Irish Canadian Rugby Club 10 - Ottawa Harlequins (RCSL) 12
03 / 05 / 03
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Two Irish teams made a voluntary pre season trip to Ottawa on Saturday, and came away with mixed results on the day.

A try in the 46th minute of the second half (that will surely contend for a "Rugby Bloopers" tape)
lifted Ottawa Harlequins of the Rugby Canada Super League to a 12-10 win over Irish Canadians of the Ontario League in the first team fixture.

A review of the game video shows Ottawa quick tapping two consecutive penalties, then scoring with 17 men on the field and involved in the play.

"It looked like the Sens...uh, Quins, got caught on a bad line change," quipped an annoyed Irish coach Mark Winokur. "To their credit, the Ottawa coaching staff apologized for the last five minute confusion, but it hopefully will not detract from a solid effort on all parts."

The two sides scored two tries each, Mark Thompson and Dan Hinton for the visitors, who had many chances but showed a lack of finish through the day.

"We had agreed on unlimited subs before the game," explained Winokur, "but I did not think they would use that many players (over 30), or, of course, they would not confine themselves to 15 at once. Nonetheless, our physical commitment was excellent and we have now had a top flight game before the league starts next week. We need to improve some areas, such as lineout and the offload, but we are making good progress: having more top grade players available next week should also help."

The development side, also playing up a league, took on the Ottawa Indians firsts of the Ontario League Bardon Division, and earned a 15-15 tie despite having two men in the bin at the end of the match. A very solid performance with many newcomers looking good will increase competition at the first xv level. Andrew Van Kerrebroeck, Nabil Azar and Kevin Turlo touched down for the greens.

All three teams play at Fletchers Field on Saturday in the first league game, with Brantford the visitors.