Irish Canadian Rugby Club 16 - Oakville Crusaders 15
11 / 09 / 04
League

Ollie Bellwoods penalty goal with three minutes to play lifted Irish Canadians (10-2, 50 points) to a nail-biting 16-15 win over previously unbeaten Oakville Crusaders (11-1, 53 points) in Marshall Division play on Saturday at Fletchers Fields.

A brutal physical encounter with four lead changes saw the Irish prevail with a strong second half that had them camped in the Oakville end for long spells, after Cru had the edge in first half play.

The teams seemed to want to batter each other into submission for the first quarter, with Ryan Morrison giving Cru a 5-0 lead after 24 minutes. The Irish ended the half on the Cru line.

In the second frame, Irish began with almost immediate pressure, creating a try for debutant fullback Andrew Thompson (ironically, also the name of the Cru fullback!).

Bellwoods first goal after 15 minutes of the half made it 8-5 Irish, and Steve Conlons' team leading 15th try gave the greens a 13-5 margin into the last quarter of an hour. Cru came right back, however, and Morrisons' second try from a driving maul made it 13-10 Irish.

The greens again camped on the Cru line, and seemed ready to ice the win when Cru fullback Thompson stepped in front of an errant pass and dashed 100 meters to score, giving the blacks a 15-13 lead with eight minutes to play.  However, Irish captain George Azar snared the ensuing kick-off, and nine phases later, Cru got offside at the breakdown, allowing Bellwood to slot his winner. From the kick-off, Cru spilled the restart and the game ended in the Cru end.

"A fantastic game between two fully committed teams," said Irish coach Mark Winokur. "In addition to our Pac Pride and university guys missing, we could have done with Mark Thompson, Pete Smith and Jay Verstraten (not available), but at this time of year everyone misses guys, Cru included. The players on the park really performed well on both teams, and I hope we get a chance to play them again in late October. We had a discussion about self-belief at half and that seemed to give us more confidence against a very good side."

The development side, down 18-10 at halftime, exploded for five second half tries to rout Cru 41-23, keeping pace with top flight Beach in the second div game. The thirds, let down by no-shows, were pounded 72-3 as they played 12 on 15 for the entire match.

The club travel to Brantford next week for what is now a crucial match.  "This is a very dangerous game for us as Brantford are immensely talented side despite their record, and we cannot lose focus if we want to stay in the hunt," noted Winokur. Training shifts under the lights at Richmond Green starting Monday at 7.