Stingers Open Season With a Thud
Laval Catches Home Team by Surprise
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Concordia’s women’s rugby team was caught by surprise last Sunday, as the Laval Rouge et Or dominated from start to finish to the tune of a 24-8 thrashing.
“I think we set the tone early, and I think Concordia was surprised to see us come out that hard,” said Laval head coach Bill McNeil.
In just a few minutes, the opposition had gotten under the Stingers’ skin as centre Karen Paquin broke off from the pack and ran to the try line to put the Rouge et Or up 7-0.
Laval tested the Stingers in more ways than one. At times they were picking up their fumbles and intercepting their catches, all while making them fight for the ball. Laval had scored another try by halftime, doubling their lead.
Laval dominance became the trend throughout the game, although the Stingers managed to get on the board twice: the first, a field goal scored by centre Jackie Tittley midway through the first, and the other when prop Hughanna Gaw finally escaped Laval’s wall of defense and made it to the try line. Yet this was as lenient as the opposition would get, as they went on to score two more tries in the second half.
The Stingers’ poor play in the game represented a noticeable drop-off to McNeil when contrasted with last year’s team, who were silver medalists in the CIS Nationals.
“They were a little bit less efficient today than they usually would be when it comes to profiting from our mistakes,” McNeil said.
Tittley had a similar opinion of her team’s poor performance. “It’s kind of hard to follow a game plan when you play most of the game on defense,” she said.
Meanwhile, Stingers head coach Graeme McGravie knows his team has it in them, and was not discouraged by the loss.
“I think we could have played better, but I wasn’t really terribly disappointed, we just missed a lot of tackles,” said McGravie, already looking ahead.
“Today means absolutely nothing to me. Today was a great way to see how this team plays under pressure. It’s just unfortunate that the scoreline was what it was, because I don’t think that was a reflection on how the game went,” he said.
The Stingers will try to balance out their record this Friday night when the Bishop’s Gaiters pay a visit. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m.
