Irish Canadian Rugby Club 73 - Brantford Harlequins0
10 / 07 / 04
League

Due to some curious scheduling by the ORU, the Irish Women faced the OWL rookies Brantford Harlequins on the same day as the Canada/France test match.  With numerous players unavailable due to provincial team commitments, the Irish fielded a very young team with several players playing in their debut with the 1^st XV.  Despite this fact, the Irish continued their excellent play and dominated matters as they came away with an eleven try, 73-0 victory.

 With Fletcher’s Fields not willing to open for the Irish to host their guests, the game was moved to Sunnybrook Park and played at 11:00am so the players could watch the international match later on in the day.  It was an extremely encouraging performance by the younger players as they showed that the future of the club is bright as there is tons of talent and potential in the Irish’s development squad.  Karen Dillaine making her debut with the 1^st XV opened the scoring 28 seconds into the game with a 60-meter run as she blazed around the Brantford defence.  Four minutes later Karen Ferguson continued to show her excellent form as she pierced the Brantford defensive line and then outran the cover defence for her first of four trys during the game.  The scores came often as Dillaine added a second try, Jackie Scott, and Catharine Bucknam also added singles. Jane Segal playing at outside centre showed the same outstanding form she has been showing all season as the leader of the back line with 3 trys and 2 conversions.  Cheryl Morris, also making her debut with the 1^st XV added 4 conversions and 2 penalty kicks to round out the scoring.

 “I am excited by the fact that we can have such a dominating performance with so many young players on the field. It shows that there is all sorts of exciting potential throughout the club and bodes well for the future of the club,” commented head coach Rodin “Koko” Lozada.  “We have improved from week to week this season and we now find ourselves in a one game showdown for the league title.  This is exactly where we expected to be at the start of the year.”

 The Irish Women 1stXV face the Toronto Scottish Women on July 24^th in the OWL season finale.  With both teams undefeated, the league title and top seed in the Cup play-offs is at stake.  The game promises to be an exciting encounter with so much on the line for both teams.