Irish Canadian Rugby Club 14 - Toronto Scottish 40
02 / 07 / 05
League Match # 4

Faced with the challenge of taking on the defending league and cup champions, the Irish Women showed their lack of experience and youth as they succumbed to a well drilled team and went down to a 40 – 14 defeat.  With only 2 games left in the OWL schedule, the Irish now find themselves in third place and are faced with a dogfight to retain their standing.

The Scottish’s experience and battle-tested veterans took control of the game early and took the fight out of the young Irish team.  The Irish showed that they had much to learn as they wilted under the pressure of the Scottish forward pack and found themselves down 25 – 0 at halftime.  “The Scottish were clearly the better team and our players showed their inexperience and were unable to cope with the things they threw at us” commented Irish coach Rodin Lozada.  The second half did not start off any better as the Scottish put in two more trys within 10 minutes of the re-start.  The Irish seemed to gain some of their confidence back in the last 30 minutes of the game as they finally were able to string together some phases of play and were able to salvage some pride with two trys from Karen Lozada.  Jane Segal converted both trys but it was too little too late as the Scottish cruised to an easy victory.  “There are some very valuable lessons to be learned from this game” said Lozada “The Scottish showed us what it takes to be the best and hopefully our players took note.”

The day started off on a positive note as the Irish 2^nd XV continued their good form and put away a pesky Scottish 2^nd XV with a 24 – 10 victory.  The Irish never caved in to the extreme heat and humidity and answered every challenge the Scottish threw at them.  Trys were scored by Catharine Bucknam, Jackie Ritchie, Jess Panzer and Karen Dillane.  Joanne Jacyk added 2 conversions to complete the scoring.  Just like last season, the Irish 2^nd XV is getting stronger as the season progresses and will definitely be a dangerous team to face as the play-offs approach.

The Irish Women take a much-needed break to reflect on a tough loss and rest up for the stretch run of the season.  Next match is against the Toronto Nomads, who shocked the Scottish on opening day by handing them their first loss in over 2 years.  The match takes place at Fletcher’s Fields with 2 games kicking off at 12:00pm and 1:30pm.