Irish Canadian Rugby Club 56 - Burlington Centaurs 0
01/ 05 / 04
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A stout Burlington defence and nervous Irish hands for the first 25 minutes had some concerned about all the new faces, but the tumblers clicked into place just before half time, leading the greens past the Centaurs by 56-0 on a pleasant day in Niagara Region.

With a new front row, new halfbacks and a new game plan, things were disjointed until Leonard Jean Pierre, Dave Stratton and Andrew Yearwood raced home before the intermission.

Wholesale changes at the break, and returnee Simon Dunne led a second half outburst with three scores, Tim Matthews, Ruairi Carson, and Phil Mack (just back from the U19 World Cup via James Bay) all scoring, Roly Killen and Dave Poettcker splitting four conversions.  Dunne, Greg Doria and Kipp Wotherspoon were all impressive in their return to the green, black and white.

The development side ran riot in a 52-10 win over their counterparts, rookie Raf Kaczmarek on fire with four tries to lead the way, Cam McDonald, and Rory Connolly were amongst the others to score.

"The competition for positions is incredible," said Irish coach Mark Winokur "the selectors face a real challenge in getting it right. Our team play still needs a lot of work, however, and we will be in as tough as it gets next week."

All three Irish teams host defending league holders Oakville Crusaders at Fletchers next Saturday in the 2004 league opener, followed by three games away at York on Sunday, May 16th.