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Concordia’s men’s rugby team prevailed 29-10 over the Sherbrooke Vert et Or on Friday night to bring their record to 3-0.
Sherbrooke started their game sluggish and slow and Concordia did not hesitate to capitalize on their poor offensive co-ordination to steal the ball away. Grady Galloway blocked a Vert et Or kick which was then scooped up by Jonathan Dextras-Romagnino. He dodged four Sherbrooke players and ran 30 yards to score. Xavier Birot added the conversion to pull ahead 7-0.
Birot added three points on a penalty kick from 18 yards out, mid-way through the first half.
The injury-plagued Stingers suffered another massive blow to their roster. Jeremy Chung Lim suffered a serious head injury after a Sherbrooke player swung him around on a tackle which resulted in a knee to the temple. He was taken away by ambulance and the offending player was immediately expelled from the match.
According to head coach Clive Gibson, Chung Lim broke his left temporal bone in his skull and had to undergo surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. His condition is improving rapidly but of the Stingers do not expect him to return this season.
Eight-man David Biddle explained the Stingers mindset after the incident. “Composure was the key in that game and when something like that happens it’s hard to get guys to focus on the game and not on retaliation,” said the stand-in captain for the injured Ted McGregor.
This strategy clearly did not work as the game seemed constantly on the verge of a brawl. There were three incidents where Sherbrooke and Concordia players exchanged a few words and shoves behind the play and behind the back of the referee.
After a brutal hit on Birot, Sherbrooke’s Martin Gautier was sin-binned and had to sit-out for ten minutes. This left the Vert et Or at a massive disadvantage sine they would be playing two players short. It didn’t take long for Concordia to capitalize. David Biddle scored his first try as a Stinger after a Sherbrooke penalty to widen the lead to 15-0.
When Sherbrooke started to pick up their game in the second half, Concordia was the team who looked like they were two men short. Back talk to the referee earned them two extra penalties on an initial high tackle, costing them a total of 30 yards. This allowed the Vert et Or enough field position to kick for points and put them on the board 15-3.
Concordia did not play to their potential in the second half, despite what the numbers up on the scoreboard said.
Their passes were falling short and almost every line-out was thrown crooked. Jumper Marc Roche did manage to steal a key Sherbrooke line-out which led to Biddle adding another try between the posts. Birot added the extra points.
Biddle would go on to set up the next try. He scooped up the ball off a scrum and took it blindside where he created a two on one with scrum-half Alec Montealegre. Montealegre then spun around the defender to score. Birot made the conversion and Concordia pulled ahead 29-3.
The Stinger’s once again lost their cool and took excessive penalties. This forced them back into their own end and the Vert et Or took advantage of the momentum. Sherbrooke rounded out the scoring with a try on the blindside that fooled the Stinger line and sinker to make it 29-8. Even with the final Vert et Or effort, the Stingers had locked up the game.

The Stingers face undefeated McGill on Sunday at 1 p.m. at McGill’s Molson Stadium.

A 19-12 loss delivered by the hands of league-leading Laval, on Friday night, ruined the chance of a perfect season for the women’s rugby team.
The rivalry between Concordia and Laval is almost palpable. According to captain Claire Hortop, the contention between the two teams is one of the fiercest in the league. “Ever since we beat them in the finals three years ago, they’re kind of like the new McGill,” she said.
Laval opened the scoring early. Six minutes into the first half, the Rouge et Or struck after Concordia handed them field position with a penalty.
The early try lit a fire under the Stingers as they ran roughshod over Laval. Vanessa Grillo was a dominating force in the rucks and Hortop’s long run proved that the Rouge et Or defence was not impenetrable. Kim Whitty took one for the team as she was clobbered by a Laval tackle when she scored in the corner. Jackie Tittley’s kick hit the crossbar and left Concordia trailing 7-5.
The Stingers struggled with their passing late in the first half. Passes between scrum-half Julie Vaillancourt, fly-half Erika Hamilton and inside centre Tittley, fell short and bounced off the turf.
The turning point of the half came in the dying minutes, with Laval trying to relieve pressure by getting out of their own try zone. Rookie Hughanna Gaw blocked a kick, which allowed the Stingers a scrum on the five yard line. Gaw finished what she had started and scored with the support of the entire pack. Tittley added the extra points and the Stingers were ahead by five at the half.
However, it was not the same Concordia squad that returned to the field for the second half. A bevy of missed passes, ineffective tackling, and penalties plagued Concordia. On defence, the backs were waiting for the Rouge et Or to run into them, instead of taking initiative and pressuring their passes.
The largest failure was Concordia’s set play, which went from dominating in the first half to what was essentially handing Laval the ball. It was only a matter of time before Laval scored and levelled the game to 12-all.
Minutes later, Laval pulled ahead as a result of a terrible defensive effort by the Stingers. The Rouge et Or managed to steal a line-out without even sending up a jumper. They sent the ball out to the wing where Mandie Aldridge lost a footrace, and Jennifer Rosenbaum missed a pivotal tackle. It was an easy jog between the uprights for Laval and an even easier kick to secure the lead 19-12.
With only five minutes left, Concordia began to play desperately. The entire pack participated in mauls and rucks and the Stingers began their slow progression down-field. Laval began to fall apart under the constant pressure and they committed five consecutive penalties on their own five yard line.
Concordia couldn’t seem to break the gritty Laval defence which shifted to repel at least seven try attempts. Grillo finally managed to make it into the try zone and it seemed like Concordia had managed to pull off the win but it was not to be. The referee and touch judge both decided that the ball was held up by Laval and not touched onto the field to score.
It was then that the final whistle sounded and, as Tittley described, the effort was “too little, too late.” Head coach Graeme McGravie echoed her sentiment, lamenting, “we should have scored before then so I’m not going to put the onus on the referee.”
This loss drops Concordia to 2-1 with a difficult week ahead. This Tuesday at 8 p.m. the ladies will face McGill at Loyola field in the Kelly-Ann Drummond Cup. This is an annual exhibition game played in honour of Kelly-Ann Drummond, a member of Concordia’s rugby team who was murdered by her boyfriend in 2004.

On Friday night the Stingers will be playing a league game against Ottawa at Loyola Field at 6:30 p.m.

Despite the size and growth of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, outside of the English-speaking world mixed martial arts superstars flock to other promotions, mainly to those in the land of the rising sun.
In fact, almost every event held in Japan squashes the “record breaking” attendance records of the UFC; the number of MMA fans in Japan makes UFC president Dana White weak in the knees.
Currently, Japan’s two largest promotions are World Victory Roads with their Sengoku series, and Dream, which is owned and operated by Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG). FEG are the former owners of Pride Fighting Championship, which was arguably the largest MMA promotion in the world until it was slowed by the growth of the UFC and was eventually bought out by them.
Coming up on Oct. 6 is the long awaited Dream 11, which will feature two tournaments: the final round of the Featherweight Grand Prix and the semi-finals of the Super Hulk Grand Prix. Also on the card will be a headlining lightweight championship rubber match between current champion Joachim Hansen (19-7-1) and Shinya Aoki (21-4).
The 15-man featherweight tournament will come to a close at this event with its four remaining participants: Hideo Tokoro (21-14-1), Hiroyuki Takaya (9-6), Bibiano Fernandes (5-2) and the tournament’s dark horse Joe Warren (2-0). Presumably out of national sentiment, the matchmakers have chosen to pit both Japanese fighters remaining in the tournament against each other to guarantee that a hometown boy at least comes second. The other fight then is of course between Bibiano Fernandes and Joe Warren.
Warren has made quite the splash in the featherweight rankings, beginning his MMA career in this tournament. The 32-year-old was previously a Greco-Roman wrestler who has won both the Pan American Games and World Championships. Unfortunately, he could not compete in the Olympics after testing positive for marijuana in 2007.
Warren wasn’t a feared competitor until he ground out a split-decision win over Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (17-2), delivering Yamamoto only his second loss. Before this, Yamamoto was considered the tournament’s favourite, even receiving a first round bye while recovering from surgery.
In the other tournament, two matches will be contested with the winners squaring off on New Year’s Eve at Dynamite!! 2009.
As the tournament’s title indicates, the fighters will be weighing in anywhere within the heavyweight (205 lbs. – 265 lbs.) and super-heavyweight (265 lbs. +) divisions. The tournament is officially open-weight, which means fighters who weigh less but make up for it in heart will be fighting as well. The way they account for the weight difference is disallowing knees to a grounded opponent when the weight difference exceeds 65 pounds.
The first of the two fights will feature South Korea’s, seven-foot-two, Hong Man Choi (2-2) – who literally has the largest head in the world – and Japan’s Ikuhisa Minowa (42-30-8), the tournament’s lightest fighter, weighing in at 195 lbs.
The other fight will be between Cameroon’s Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou(6-4), who is looking for a new home after a disappointing run in the UFC, and Bob Sapp (10-5) who will be replacing Gegard Mousasi (26-2-1). Mousasi is currently suffering from an injury. Sapp was in the opening round of the tournament, but lost to Minowa by a kneebar in the first round.
Sapp is perhaps best known for his acting career, appearing alongside Adam Sandler in The Longest Yard. Remember the big friendly giant who brok-ed his nose? Yeah, that’s him all right.
As one can tell from the four fighters’ statistics, the Super Hulk Grand Prix is more of a novelty than a world-class tournament, with most of the fighters usually dwelling outside of MMA. Choi and Sapp are both kickboxers, and Minowa is a professional wrestler. In fact, the first round featured Jose Canseco (0-1), the infamous retired Major League Baseball player, who “fought” Choi in the first round. Canseco appeared to have no martial arts training, despite boasting about it, and spent the fight running away from the giant until he was eventually caught and knocked to the ground. But one should have expected as much from a man whose only previous fight was an exhibition boxing match loss to one-time child star Danny Bonaduce.
As Dream is a rather young promotion – this is only their eleventh event – its executives have chosen to establish legitimate champions by hosting tournaments in each weight class, with the winner also winning the championship belt.
Sadly, Super Hulk Grand Prix participant Gegard Mousasi vacated the first championship belt won in the middleweight division in order to move up in weight, as his growing frame could no longer cut down to 185 lbs. And the title fight to fill the empty spot between Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Ronaldo Souza ended in an accidental eye-poke, making the match a no contest; the rematch was scrapped after Strikeforce acquired both fighters.
Now Dream will hope to make up for this dismal occurrence with their lightweight championship bout. As mentioned previously, this contest will be a rubber match as Hansen and Aoki have squared off before.
The last meeting between the two was the final round of the Lightweight Grand Prix, which saw Eddie Alvarez (18-2) disallowed to continue after a back-and-forth battle with Tatsuya Kawajiri (24-5-2). Because of this, Hansen, who had fallen out of the tournament after a loss to Alvarez, won the reserve bout against Canada’s Kultar Gill (10-8) and managed to stop Aoki with strikes in the opening minutes of the championship fight.
The Norwegian will have a lot on his hands when facing off with Aoki for the third time, as Aoki is considered by many to be the best 155 lbs. fighter in the world. Aoki is so flexible that he appears to have no bones, and as a black-belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judoka fighter, his opponents scramble off the mat whenever they find themselves with even one knee on the ground. In fact, Aoki is so talented in submission fighting that he was the first man ever to defeat an opponent in a MMA contest by way of gogoplata – which consists of choking out your opponent with your shin bone. Coincidentally this was performed against Hansen in their first match.
Whatever the outcome, Dream 11 will be sure to offer a fantastic highlight reel and help people remember that UFC is not alternate spelling for MMA.