Undefeated Season Goes to Laval

Rouge et Or too Much for Stingers

SportsDavid Kaufmann — Published October 15, 2012

Too many mistakes were to blame in Concordia’s women’s rugby team’s first loss of the season Friday at the hands of the Université Laval Rouge et Or.

“At the end of the day, we left too many points out on the field, and that came back to haunt us,” said Stingers head coach Graeme McGravie.

While this wasn’t the Stingers night, they were the first on the board, when fly half Jackie Tittley scored an early field goal to go up 3-0. But Laval quickly took over the momentum when scrum half Kathleen Keller made it past Concordia’s try line to go up 7-3.

From that point forward the two teams were in a constant battle. While Laval wouldn’t make any more ground until the dying minutes of the first, each team made significant gains on one another. The Stingers nearly scored three tries but couldn’t get it past the Rouge et Or defense. The opposition nearly scored their own try, only to be stopped by ConU.

This came as no surprise to Laval head coach Bill McNeil.

“It’s a typical Laval-Concordia confrontation, a confrontation of teams, but also a confrontation of styles of play,” he said. Finally, with under two minutes remaining, the Rouge et Or broke the scoreless curse off of a field goal from fullback Claudiane Renaud, who would add another to start off the second half.

“In a game like this, we have to be on for 80 minutes, and I think that’s where it hurt us,” said Tittley who finished the night off with seven points for her team.

This game seemed as if Laval was going to roll over the Stingers until midway through the half when Mandie Aldridge made a game of it with a try. The Stingers would reach the goal line twice more in the half courtesy of Jessica Beaudry and Samantha Ewing.

But it wasn’t enough as Laval kept pouring on the offense. This was the case at the 64th minute, and again at the 77th with tries by Christine Gourde and Dominque Bernard which secured a Rouge et Or victory.

While the loss will have no effect on their playoff chances, Tittley thinks the team will have to bring their A-game should these two teams meet again in the final.

“Going into the next game, we have to focus on being mentally ready,” she said. “If we can cut down on the mistakes, I think we’ll win,” said McGravie.

The Stingers begin their playoff journey, Friday night when they host the McGill Martlets at Concordia Stadium. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m.