Irish Canadian Rugby Club 15 - Oakville Crusaders 21
08 / 05 / 04
League

Playing away in a total quagmire, the Irish Canadians won the third and Development side matches, but dropped the first XV fixture after leading for 60 minutes.

The defending champion Crusaders scored from a driving maul in rain and mud with 16 minutes to play to nip the Irish 21-15 in the first league match.

Ruairi Carson and Simon Dunne gave the Irish a 12-8 half time lead, but penalties and increasingly poor field conditions aided "Cru" in the second half.

The Irish gain a bonus point from the close loss and started 10 new faces from last years final league game, a 41-22 loss to Cru.

The Development side were led by man of the match Dave Poettcker (Queens U) and downed the Cru 18-5, while new scrum half Jeff Mackay (Kingston) had two tries for the thirds in a 22-10 win.

"It was a very positive day overall," said coach Mark Winokur, "to go to Oakville (Fletchers closed due to the rain) and win two of three shows we can have a very exciting season here.  The first team game is obviously disappointing, but if we play with that intensity every week, we will do very well indeed.  We need some work on certain aspects of our defence, and our pre-game prep, but there is much to build on."

All three teams are scheduled to play away to York next SUNDAY May 16, before the long May weekend break.