Irish Canadian Rugby Club 17 - Balmy Beach 45
09 / 20 / 03
League

Balmy Beach snapped a six game losing streak against the Irish with a 45-17 romp at Beach on Saturday.

The win leaves Irish second by two points over Beach, and by four points over fourth place Brantford.

Irish, who were uninterested participants against Markham last week, began the game with 10 minutes of pressure on the Beach line, but surrendered a try after a no-release penalty, the ensuing clearance, and a five meter drive line out on the Beach first touch of the game.

Irish countered with a Brad Boss penalty, but with lock Peter Crocker in the bin, Beach scored twice to grab a 17-3 lead and effectively take over the game.

Beach ran their lead to 30-3 before Peter Smith scored on the final play of the half to cut the margin to 30-10; three more Beach scores against another Smith try ended the proceedings.

"Last week, we had no effort," said Irish coach Mark Winokur afterward. "this week we had effort but little skill. Beach made mistakes which we did not capitalize on; we made mistakes which turned into Beach scores. They played well throughout, and we played well in brief patches, which is simply not good enough. We have a good team, but we are not a good team right now, and we have only a little time to put it right."

The development side were also trampled, going down 21-0 after turning over ball in contact time after time and running away from support.

Both teams host Oakville next Saturday at Fletchers, before beginning the Cup on October 4, with the opposition and venue TBD by next weeks results.

Game Report from Canadian Rugby News - Doug Crosse
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What a difference a couple of months can make. It was the height of summer, July 5th, when the defending champion Irish Canadians crushed a depleted Balmy Beach side in a Thursday night encounter, blazing to a nine try victory, 60-10. It left Bruce Gage's team demoralised, Beach scrum-half Glen Miller angry, while the Irish Canadians could not have felt more confident in their campaign to re-capture the 2003 McCormick Cup title.

Fast forward to yesterday, at the Tubbs and Gee Gage rugby field on the Lakeshore, and you would see a huge reversal of fortune. The Beach played a free-wheeling, wide open brand of rugby, tearing the Irish apart 45-15 and in the process have shown some of the promise that always lurked beneath the blue and gold jerseys they wear into Marshall division battle each week.

To be fair the Irish have had just about everything go wrong that could go wrong, and then some, that has seen the team missing key starters. A car accident, poison ivy, vacations, have left the player larder somewhat empty for coach Mark Winokur, who is trying to glean some positives out of losing two games on the trot, but it is not easy.

"We are a team that is not playing well right now," he admitted following the loss. "So many things have gone wrong recently that its impossible not to have performed poorly."

Indeed, looking at the sling holding No. 8 Peter Crocker's arm immobile as he gets a possible separated shoulder examined, one feels the desperation about this champion Irish Canadian squad. But the sign of truly great teams is to persevere and get on with the job at hand, which they have done, but not to great success in the past two weeks.

The Beach are also a team that has suffered the slings and arrows of every day misfortune. Missing Glen Miller for the better part of the season because of work, injury and Toronto Xtreme duties, centre Kyle Nichols coming in and out of the lineup with various injuries, and some key veterans missing from the first part of the campaign, have all taken their toll, but here are the Beach with an impressive 8-5 record.

Impressive work in the forwards from the likes of former Olympic hammer thrower Boris Stoikos, and the recent return of second row Peter Ross have helped stiffen the Beach forwards and establish the desired platform for a not insignifigant back line that features the versatile Simon Rodgers at fly-half. It was the former Ottawa Irish stand-off that was most impressive on the day with his decision making abilities, 60 metre clearance kicks and general calm in the line of fire that helped establish a 23-10 half time lead.

Tries from wing Sandy Fraser, centre Haydn Gage, flanker Scott Dunham and Stoikos along with Jesse Henkenhaf penalty set the tone early.

The Irish got a try from fly-half Peter Smith as well as a Brad Boss penalty and conversion.

The Irish were under immediate pressure as referee John Smith fished out a yellow card for Crocker for some activity away from the ball, putting the visitors down to 14 men for the opening ten minutes, resulting in a pair of scores in that time frame.

The Irish continued to suffer from losing the ball into contact, missed tackles, and general lack of confidence, allowing the Beach team to pressure and create the gaps needed to penetrate the Shamrock line.

Dave DeJong opened the scoring in the second half to increase the lead to 28-10. Hadyn Gage then raced to the corner, scoring a lunging try as he was tackled, to make the score 33-10. Gage was injured from the awkard position in which he was brought down, ending his day.

Peter Smith got his second for the Irish, exploiting a gap for a thirty metre run before touching down, and giving his side some hope at 33-15.

Peter Ross made the next foray slamming the ball to earth from a well timed run off of a maul from fifteen metres, and it was clear the day was over for the Irish.

Dave DeJong got his second of the half to round out the scoring, while Beach fullback Henkenhaf made sure once and for all he would not be asked again to take care of place kicking duties, missing all eight conversion attempts on the day. With the missing points it would have been a scoreline to rival the earlier drubbing by the Irish in July.

Simon Rodgers was beaming following the win, and agrees his team is peaking at just the right time.

"We are practicing very well right now, comfortable with each other and what our abilities are, so it is making us a very close squad and it is paying off on the field," he said.

Next week sees the Beach taking on the Yeomen at the Moat and the Irish home to the first place Crusaders, closing out the regular season.