Irish Canadian Rugby Club 18 - York Yeomen 22
16 / 05 / 04
League

York fly-half Steve Staffieri kicked two conversions and a penalty goal, plus created a try with 3 minutes left to lift York Yeomen past Irish Canadians 22-18 in Marshall Division play on Sunday.

York, playing their opener at home, hung on to the ball for long enough to crack the Irish defence and gain the win.  The Irish, now 0-2, gain another bonus point for the close defeat.

Staffieri opened the game with a penalty, which Phil Mack matched for the Irish.  Chris Verstraten, playing in place of Canada selection Simon Dunne, who was scratched pending his Canada trip, made a long break which led to the first of two tries by Rodrigo Lacassie, 8-3 Irish. Lacassie's second try gave the Irish a 13-3 lead, but York struck right back with a driving maul score, 13-10 at half.

Rory Connolly (Queens U) came on for the injured Verstraten to start the second half and scored on his debut, 18-10, but again York scored quickly to close to within 3. Staffieri's heroics then won the game with minutes to play.

"I have heard all sorts of excuses, like missing Mark Thompson, Jay Verstraten, Dunne, Tim Matthews etc, and missing five of six kicks at goal, but that is somewhat irrelevant," said Irish coach Mark Winokur.  "We had players good enough to win the game, and our poor decision making took the result away.  In the big picture, this may be to be expected when six of the team are under 21, but we need to learn how to do the little things to win (like make kicks) before we can start to get the results we want.  York did what they do best, and we did not respond properly."

The Development side were ragged at best, but won 22-3 to improve to 2-0, and the thirds won by default when York failed to field a team.

Training now shifts to Fletchers Fields on Thursday night (which will also be a clinic by members of the Canada 7s team), then Fletchers again next Monday (holiday) night at 7 pm.

The first side travel to Markham on Wednesday, May 26, with the Development XV and thirds away to Markham on Saturday May 29th, before all three teams host Brampton on June 5th in the long delayed home opener.

Other Scores:

Marshall Division One - Week 2
Oakville Crusaders 32 - Aurora Barbarians 10
Markham 20 - Brampton 16
Balmy Beach 40 - Brantford Harlequins 17

Marshall Division 2 - Week 2
Oakville Crusaders 21 - Aurora Barbarians 10
Markham 23 - Brampton 10
Balmy Beach 51 - Brantford Harlequins 0

Marshall Division 3 - Week 2
Oakville Crusaders 31 - Aurora Barbarians 12
Markham 20 - Brampton 3
Balmy Beach - Brantford Harlequins (Score unknown)