Irish Canadian Rugby Club 15  - Toronto Scottish 36
24 / 07 / 04
League

In an exciting and well played match, the Irish Women suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the Toronto Scottish.  With both teams entering the game undefeated, the OWL title and top seed in the OWL Cup play-offs was on the line.  In a thoroughly entertaining match the two teams showed a high level of skill and ability but the young Irish team succumbed to the more experienced side 36-15.  The Irish Women conclude their inaugural season in the OWL as league runners up and have the #2 seed in the upcoming Cup run.

 Early pressure by the Irish was countered with a quick tap penalty by the Scottish and saw their winger catch the Irish defence off guard to open the scoring.  The Irish shook off the lapse in defence and continued their pressure which eventually paid off with a try in the left corner from Sarah Deleeuw making her debut with the club upon her return from the National U23 camp in Edmonton.  The Scottish back line took advantage of some poor tackling by the Irish to quickly run in 2 more trys before the Irish countered with a try by Meagan Haney after some excellent interplay between the backs and forwards.  Scottish went into the halftime break up 15-10.  Another Scottish try early in the second half did not deter the Irish as they continued to mount the pressure on the Scottish line.  Jen Kryszak scored an opportunistic try mid way through the half to bring the Irish back to within one score.  Unfortunately for the greens, the Scottish’s wealth of experience took over and replied with a demoralizing try shortly after and then withstood more pressure from the Irish to finish the game.  Final 36-15 and the Scottish successfully defend their OWL title.

 “I am proud of the effort the girls showed today.  They fought hard and they fought to the end.  The Scottish know they were in a game for the whole 80 minutes” commented Head Coach Rodin “Koko” Lozada after the heartbreaking loss.  “There are lessons to be learned from this game and I hope we get the chance to reverse the result in a few weeks time.”

 The Irish 2^nd XV have had their game rescheduled at the last minute as their opponents, Brampton RFC, were unable to field a team on the day.  The match is now scheduled for Tuesday July 26 at 7:00pm.  Next up for the Irish is the Cup quarter-final match up with the Aurora Barbarians on August 7^th at Fletcher’s Fields.