vs. Balmy Beach

Playing a rare Thursday tripleheader, Irish Canadians maintained their hold on first place in the Marshall Division by hammering third place Balmy Beach 60-10 in the summer heat.

Things began badly for Beach when Irish hooker Rodrigo Lacassie touched down twice in the first five minutes, and Beach top scorer and flyhalf Simon Rodgers went off with a leg injury.

Irish led 13-3 into the wind just before halftime, when Beach pushed the Irish pack back in the scrum, only to see the greens cycle quickly to the backs, who raced away 60 meters for a try, centre Dan Hinton finishing under the posts.

Hinton then scored on the first movement of the second half to extend the lead to 27-3, opening the floodgates on a talented but not well organized Beach side. Lacassie then added two more to his total, giving him four on the night; Jason Verstraten barged over; and Konrad Nikkel added two more before Beach lock Gord Young reduced the final margin to 60-10, a shocking score line between the two old rivals whose last game was a 10-9 semi-final win for the Irish last year.

"Beach certainly had some talent on the field-people like Glenn Miller, Boris Stoikos, Scott Dunham, Drew Vaughan, Haydn Gage and so on," noted Irish coach Mark Winokur, "but we played the game plan perfectly, and the Beach seemed out of touch with each other. The rematch will certainly be a much, much tougher affair."

Irish have now taken 28 of a possible 30 points and lead the division by nine pending Saturdays' Crusaders vs. York match.

"A bit of a shame to have a break now, since we seem to have our energy and structure right," said Winokur, "but we are where we want to be even though there is a long way to go."

The Development side ran in six tries to also move top of the table, downing Beach 38-29. A breakdown in communication in the last 5 minutes coupled with having to play a man short due to injury led to a pair of late Beach tries. The 2's are also 6-0 at the break. The thirds, with a young side and without several confirmed players, were routed 58-7 by a very solid Beach thirds.

The thirds and development side will resume play on Friday night, July 25 at Oakville at 7 pm, while the firsts match with Cru is subject to scheduling after next weeks RCSL Eastern Final (Ajax, 5 pm July 12).

The club will also send a squad to Burlington on Wednesday July 16 for a mid-summer tune up.

The Toronto Irish Canadians, currently in first place in Ontario's Marshall Division, sent a strong message on Thursday night that they intended to repeat as McCormick Cup champs in 2003, as they dispatched the Balmy Beach 60-10 in a nine try gouging.

Front rower, Chilean international Rodrigo Lacassie was on fire scoring four tries, mostly from his tenacious work rate off the ball. Time and again he would swoop in as a trailer to a back movement, securing possession and using his speed and size to great advantage.

"I was just in the right place at the right time," Lacassie contended after the match, though a slight grin belied the fact he was happy with his performance.

The Irish got two try performances from Konrad Nikkel and Dan Hinton, with Jason Verstaten adding a solo effort from his fullback position. Scrumhalf Brad Boss added a penalty and six conversions for personal haul of 15 points.

Irish coach Mark Winokur was emphatic in his praise for the 6-0 Irish squad, saying "I believe the guys have really bought into our style of play, our pattern, which is really starting to pay dividends."

The Beach got a lone try from second row Gordon Young to augment a first half penalty from Haydn Gage. Starting fly-half Simon Rodgers went down part way through the opening forty minutes with a leg injury, a knock that could ironically affect Winokur in his role as coach for the Rugby Canada Super League Xtreme.

Beach coach Bruce Gage could not confirm the severity of the injury to the former Ottawa Irish stand-off, but was hopeful he would recover during the upcoming three week break in the Marshall campaign.

The match was held on a Thursday night to accommodate the Beach which is involved in its popular Beach Volleyball tournament this weekend on Toronto's east lakeshore.

Scoring:

Balmy Beach:
Try: Gordon Young
Penalty: Haydn Gage

Irish Canadians:
Tries: Rodrigo Lacassie(4), Konrad Nikkel(2), Dan Hinton (2), Jason Verstraten
Penalty: Brad Boss
Conversions: Brad Boss (6)