Irish Canadian Rugby Club 22 - Brampton Beavers 16
28 / 08 / 04
League

On a hot and humid day, the Irish Canadians traveled to Brampton to face the Beavers in a Marshall Division match up.  Despite a slow start, numerous mistakes and a much improved Brampton side, the Irish managed to pull things together and pull out a tough 22 – 16 victory.  The win clinched 2^nd place in the Marshall standings for the Irish and secured the crucial home field advantage for the McCormick Cup Play-offs.   Earlier in the day, the Irish Development side had a dominating performance and ran in 10 trys and a 64 – 7 victory over Brampton 2.  It was pretty much one way traffic for the Irish as they led from start to finish and maintain their hold on second place in the Marshall Division 2 standings.

Indifferent play and dropped balls plagued the Irish early in the game and allowed Brampton to march out to a 0 – 10  lead after 14 minutes of play.  Fabian Rayne ran over the Brampton defence to score under the posts in the 22nd minute after the Irish finally managed to string together several phases of play.  Jason Verstraten’s conversion off both uprights and crossbar made the score 7 – 10.  More mistakes by the Irish allowed Brampton to apply pressure and eventually convert on another penalty kick to push their lead to 7 – 13.  The Irish showed signs of waking up towards the end of the half as Ryan Carr crashed over the line and brought the score to 12 – 13 at the break. 

“The guys were disappointed in their play in the first half and you could tell during the break that they were determined to turn things around” observed acting coach “Rodin “Koko” Lozada.  “It was only a matter of time before their talent and experience took over and they could put their stamp on the game.”

A Brampton PK early in the second half saw their lead increase to 12 – 16 but a relatively easy miss by Brampton just minutes later seemed to lift the Irish spirits and they began to exert control on the game.  The Irish forwards began to dominate possession and rumbled their way down the field, pinning Brampton inside their 22.  Even with flanker Mark Thompson in the sin bin, the Irish continually applied pressure on the Brampton line and only some poor handling kept them from going over.  With less than 15 minutes to go in the game, Thompson made up for his sin binning by scoring off a rolling maul from the lineout and the Irish led for the first time in the game 17 – 16.  Right off the kick off the Irish went right back down the field and Thompson scored his second of the game in the 78 minute off the back of a 5 meter scrum.  Final score Irish 22 Brampton 16.

“It may not have been pretty, but nevertheless a win is a win” commented No. 8 Steve Conlon.  The bonus point win leaves the Irish with 46 points and with league leaders Oakville Crusaders with 52 points up next, the Irish have a chance to make a dent in Cru’s lead in the standings.  The crucial match up is slated for September 11^th at Fletcher’s Fields.