Stingers 22, Carabins 15: Rugby team nearly blows lead against Les Bleus

Concordia moves to 3-1 with two games remaining in the regular season

SportsConor Tomalty — Published September 20, 2024 0 minutes

Head coach Craig Beemer’s squad headed into Wednesday night’s matchup having endured a 47-17 loss to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Sept. 14. Whether it was the Stingers' short rest between games or simply an underestimation of their opponents, UdeM kept the game close through over 80 minutes of action.

“I don’t think we’ve played to the standards that we expect for ourselves this year,” Beemer said post-game. “We’ve made too many unforced errors. Every time we had a bit of momentum and something good would happen, something bad would happen and we dropped the ball.”

The Stingers had two knock-ons within the first four minutes of play, a recurring theme throughout the match. Both defences remained solid, holding their lines straight and thwarting any deep runs with well-timed steals.

It took 28 minutes before the opening points were scored. After two solid gains from the forwards, the eight Éadaoin Mabel Murtagh found daylight and touched the ball down in the in-goal area. 

A strong clearing kick by fly-half Kelsey Sylvester set the Stingers up for a line-out within five yards of scoring, moments later. After a brief goal-line stand, hooker Hannah Booler punched home the score. Concordia failed to convert their kicks, but built a 10-0 lead.

The Carabins responded before halftime. In a similar scoring fashion, a lineout deep in the Stingers end led to an overload, placing UdeM inches from the in-goal area. After about two minutes of battering the Stingers’ goal-line wall, left wing Anna Markov touched the ball down, making it a 10-5 game at the half.

The second frame saw seemingly every penalty in the rule book called within the first 20 minutes. Knock-ons, not releasing and coming-in-from-the-side led to scrums that turned into not-keeping-straight calls and so on.

It took until the 61st minute before Stingers right wing Sarah Scott found an opening on the far side of the field and scored her team’s third try. Another missed convert gave Concordia a 15-5 advantage, but the Carabins wouldn’t say die.

Roughly seven minutes later, Carabins’ outside centre Rosalie Gareau intercepted a pass as the Stingers attempted to get the ball out wide. By catching her opponent off-guard, Gareau had a clear path for a try. 

In the 72nd minute, an obstruction call against Concordia set up Carabins fly-half Leila Bourgeaud-Pedelucq for a three-point convert, and she nailed it, tying the game at 15-15.

The Stingers responded with a chutzpah that was lacking for the majority of the match. With veteran subs in the game, such as full-back Madeleine McTavish and prop Steve Kalaydjian, Concordia marched down field with strong runs and churning legs. A solid kick out of bounds placed them near the goal-line and Kalaydjian inevitably blasted through the Carabins’ defence to score the game-winning try. With a successful convert, Concordia walked to the locker room with a frustrating 22-15 victory.  

“I turned to everyone and said we have to score, we have to prove to ourselves that we are as good as we think we are,” Stingers captain Fallon Coulouris said, speaking about the game-winning try. “Even though it wasn’t our best game, we still won and we should still be proud that we did win.”

The Stingers have a 10-day break until a tough matchup against the second-place Université Laval Rouge et Or on Saturday, Sept. 28. The game will take place at Telus Stadium in Quebec City. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.