Irish Canadian Rugby Club 42 - York Yeomen 21
06 / 09 / 03
League

A 28 point burst in the games' final 18 minutes carried Irish Canadians (9-2 and 43 points) past Yeomen (4-7 and 19 points) 42-21 in Marshall Division play on Saturday.

York featured a much less experienced side than normal, missing many key players, while Irish were without Seb Orsi, Brett Domenchuk and Jay Verstraten for the match; nonetheless, York dominated the opening 20 minutes and were up 14-0 with sound tactics and poor tackling by the Irish.

Mike Brown popped to Leonard Jean Pierre to cut the margin to 14-7 after half and hour, then Brown's bounce pass went to Ish Mozes, who "raced" in to even the game on halftime.

York camped on the Irish line to start the second half, benefiting from a yellow card to Irish FB Dan Hinton, and finally scored to take a 21-14 lead into the games' final quarter.

Brad Boss capitalized on Irish pressure to kick two penalty goals, 21-20 Yeomen.  Dave Stephens first try in green after great support made it 25-21; another Boss penalty upped the lead to 28-21 with 10 to play; then Jean Pierre dashed in twice to give Irish the bonus point and a second win at York this season.

"An abysmal start and a great finish," said Irish coach Mark Winokur.  "York were very good to start, getting great mileage from new faces, and we were, for some reason, flat. But guys like Mark Thompson, Mike Brown and Oren Smith really stepped up, and that seemed to get everyone going.  Tough sledding ahead, but we are still in good standing with only 3 to go."

The development side got great running from Joff Kilger and Scot Humphries in a 39-0 rout of Yeomen, and are now 8-3 in their division, whilst York could not manage a third team fixture.

The club is home to Markham on Saturday in another tough run-in game, and training shifts to Richmond Green Monday and Thursday (corner Leslie and Elgin Mills).