Irish Canadian Rugby Club 45 - Fergus Highland 5
08 / 09 / 02
League

Irish # 10 Ed Gardner had a personal haul of 25 points from three tries and five converts as Irish Canadians (9-2 and 46 points) battered Fergus Highland (2-8-1 and 12 points) 45- 5 in Marshall Division play on a hot late summer day at Fletchers.

The Highlanders scored within a minute of opening the game with a try from Rob Alexander, but steady Irish pressure led to tries from Peter Crocker, Dale Burleigh and Gardner before halftime.

Tim Matthews increased the lead to 26-5, Gardner's second made it 33-5, then the crowd was electrified by a 60 meter Jason Verstraten try in which the ex-Canadian back basically ran through 11 defenders to score under the posts.

Gardner touched down again late on to wind up the scoring.

The Irish, still in first overall, play at Oakville next Saturday, while second place York take on Balmy Beach at the Beach in crucial games next weekend.

"We had a very poor start, but were at least OK after that," said Irish coach Mark Winokur. "We seemed to do the simple things poorly and the complicated things well-we will improve with a re-commitment to training."

The development side struggled mightily for 45 minutes or so before opening things up to win 27-10 in their match-Gareth Pettigrew returned to the Irish line-up after a two year "retirement" to score a try in the win. The thirds picked up a default win.

All three sides are in Oakville next Saturday in what are obviously critical late season matches.