Irish Canadian Rugby Club 32 - Toronto Saracens 5
ICRC Dev. XV 5 - Toronto Saracens 15
12 / 06 / 04
League

The Irish Canadian Women climbed into first place in the OWL standings after coming out ahead with a 32 – 5 victory in a first place showdown with the newly promoted Toronto Saracens.  Both teams were coming into the game with undefeated records and the Saracens holding the edge in the standings as a result of a bonus point.  The match would be a good test for both teams and a better indicator of where each team stood.

With a strong wind at their backs, the Saracens forwards came at the Irish defence hard and held a slight edge in possession and territory.  Despite playing without the ball for long periods of time, the explosive Irish attack took advantage of a breakdown in the Saracen defence and Tracie Allan opened the scoring from a blind side move from a 5-meter scrum.  More Irish pressure saw Jackie Scott crash over several tacklers for the second try of the half.  Jane Segal converted and the Irish led 12-0.  The Saracens were rewarded for their first half pressure as they scored right on halftime to turn around 12-5.

Intense defensive pressure and cutting down on unforced errors turned the tide in the second half, which resulted in a dominant Irish performance.  With the forwards producing quality possession, the Irish back line began moving the ball and stretching the Saracen defence out wide.  The pressure was too much for the OWL rookies and the Irish ran in three more trys through Kylie James, Karen Ferguson and Allan added her second of the game.  Jane Segal added a conversion and a penalty goal in the second half.  In the end, the Irish Women displayed their class and showed that they are one of the top teams in the league.

“I think we underestimated the Saracens at the start of the game and as a result we had a slow start.  They were a very hard team and you have to give them credit for standing up to our pack,” stated Irish No. 8 Christine Ford when asked what accounted for the slow start for the Irish.  “We cut down on our unforced mistakes in the second half and made good use of the wind.  All this resulted in a much better effort and we imposed ourselves on the game and pulled away to a convincing victory,” said Head Coach Koko Lozada.

The Irish 2^nd XV was beset by injuries and unavailability and fielded a very young team who played with loads of heart and determination.  Unfortunately their hard work was not rewarded with a victory as they fell to the Saracens 2 by a score of 5- 15.  Sonia Sennik scored the lone try for the Irish.  “The 2^nd team is not far off from being a very good team.  Several players had great individual games but a lack of cohesion and chemistry hurt the players and as a result we fell short due to a lack of a good teamwork,” commented Lozada.

Next up for the Irish Women are two games against the Aurora Barbarians on June 19^th as part of the Alumni Day celebrations at Fletcher’s Fields.  As well, Kristin Konieczny will be leaving next weekend to tour England and Wales with Canada U19.  We wish Kristin the best of luck and we are sure that she will represent the club with class and pride.