Irish Canadian Rugby Club 53 - Hamilton Hornets 7
16 / 04 / 05
Friendly

After a very successful debut season in 2005, the Irish Women traveled to Stoney Creek to take on the Hamilton Hornets to

 open their 2006 campaign.  The women in green christened the new season in style with a convincing 9 try effort and final score of 53 – 7 over their hosts.

 Despite having numerous players unavailable due to exams and previous commitments, the Irish Women showed their class as they shook off the winter rust and played an entertaining, free flowing game.  They scored trys from all parts of the field and dominated the play for much of the game.  Former Waikato NPC player Christina Hawkins making her debut in the green jersey scored the season’s first try 7 minutes into the game.  After several phases, the Irish forwards pounded the Hornets goal line until Hawkins crashed over from 1 meter out.  The Irish backs then got into the act and created holes in the Hamilton defence that led to Karen Lozada (2 trys), Krista Goulding, Jackie Scott, Meagan Haney and Debbie Brenneman all touching down in the first half.  Jane Segal, leading with distinction in her debut as Irish Captain, kicked 4 conversions to round out the scoring.  To their credit the Hornets showed some moments of danger and were rewarded with an overpowering run through the centres with their lone score in the half.

 Segal and Goulding both added trys in the second half as they finished off some fine movements which involved backs and forwards moving the ball through multiple phases.  The majority of the second half fell victim to numerous errors and players on both teams began to tire as the lack of match fitness began to show.  The match finished with both teams continuing the high level of physical play with a final score of 53 – 7.

 Asked to comment on his team’s first outing of the year, Irish coach Rodin “Koko” Lozada replied, “Not much to complain about when you run in 9 trys and put out a very efficient effort.  Obviously there were lots of mistakes, but that is expected for the first game of the year.  What was obvious today is that we will be a quality team this season and we will be competitive when the league opens in 4 weeks time.”

 The Irish Women return the training field this week on Monday and Thursday night at Newtonbrook High School to continue polishing up their game and prepare for next week’s encounter against the newly promoted to the OWL Toronto Nomads.  Kick-off is slated for 1:30 pm on Saturday April 23^rd at Newtonbrook High School.