Irish Canadian Rugby Club 10 - Montreal Irish 0
April 28, 2007
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The Irish Canadian Women kicked off their 2007 season with a weekend trip to La Belle Province to take on the Montreal Irish.  The weekend tour was a joint adventure with the ICRC Men as the club traveled down the 401 as part of the Montreal club’s 50^th Anniversary celebrations.  The weekend proved to be a great success as the club enjoyed the sights and sounds of Montreal’s nightlife while coming away with a pair of wins against their French namesakes.

The Montreal Irish Women are one of the rising teams in the FRQ and were coming off a highly successful 2006 season where they won some big games against the traditional powers in the Quebec league.  As the defending OWL Cup Champions, the ICRC Women were determined to uphold the Ontario Women’s League’s reputation of being the best league in the country.

The game was played in miserable conditions with intermittent rain, a muddy field, and damp cold temperatures.  Despite the poor weather, the Irish Women dominated their opposition for large portions of the game and came away with a well earned 10 – 0 victory.  The ICRC pretty much had their way in the scrums and lineouts and it laid the foundation for the win as they spent a good 90% of the game in the opponents half and launched attack after attack at Montreal’s goal line.  Some fierce defence from the Montreal Irish, a lack of finish from the women from Toronto and some interesting refereeing allowed the score to remain tied until the Montreal defence could no longer stay firm as the final whistle drew near.  At the 69^th minute, new Irish Fly-Half Paige Churchill scored the go ahead try on her debut with the club.  Right from the kick-off the Irish marched their way down the field and eventually won a PK which was kicked into the corner.  Off the ensuing lineout, the Irish drove their opponents back to their line where Danielle Dillon dove over to finish off the scoring at 10 – 0.  “We brought a relatively young and inexperienced team to play this game and I was pleased to see the younger players step up and fill in for the team-mates who were unable to make the trip due to work and school commitments. ” commented Irish Head Coach Rodin “Koko” Lozada.  “It is a good start but obviously it is still early and we have lots of work to do in order to be ready for the season opener in a month’s time.”

The Montreal Irish proved to be fantastic hosts with a post match meal that consisted of so much red meat that the Heart and Stroke Foundation will be coming to training this week to test the players’ cholesterol levels.  Saturday night proved to be a useful “club bonding experience” as both the men’s and women’s players took advantage of the fabulous nightlife Montreal has to offer.  Sorry for the lack of detail but what goes on tour stays on tour.

The pre-season continues for the Irish Women this coming Saturday May 5^th with a match against the Beavers in Brampton.  Kick-off is slated for 12:00pm.