Men’s rugby fall in home opener

An 8-7 loss to the Sherbrooke Vert et Or was not the result Concordia’s men’s rugby team expected for their home opener. But, due to a bevy of missed opportunities, it was what the Stingers had to settle for.
“It was a tough loss, we had a lot of opportunities to win it. Missed kicks killed us,” lamented captain Eric Van Thiel. All the Stingers needed was one of their penalty kicks to go through the uprights for three points, but numerous attempts sailed wide.
Concordia had played poorly against Sherbrooke last week and were expecting to get a victory. “I thought we were going to win it until the last second. We went in thinking we were going to win,” said Van Thiel.
The Vert et Or started scoring early in the first half. A penalty kick put Sherbrooke up 3-0. Concordia fought back hard but the field positioning Concordia gained was quickly lost in a succession of rapid penalties, including one for talking back to the ref.
Sherbrooke capitalized on Concordia’s mistakes and pushed their way into the end zone.
Concordia answered back less than three minutes later. Fly half Jonathan Dextras-Romangnino caught a highflying blocked kick in the back of the end zone.
“We were trying to score the one point for the rest of the game, we kept making the effort at it and unfortunately it didn’t work,” said Stingers head coach Clive Gibson.
It was not for a lack of chances. Concordia forwards were gaining yards by dragging players with them. Two failed plays in the last minute were the clincher. A missed kick and a goal line stand by Sherbrooke in the end zone were the two plays that ended the game. “The intensity was up in the last 30 seconds and if we had done that all game then we would have won,” said Van Thiel about Concordia’s last minute stand.
“We played with passion,” said Gibson. “It’s early in the season, but unfortunately it’s only going to get harder.”