Redmen headed to the finals as Sherbrooke falls 42-5 in Semis!

It’s just that time of year. Selective knitwear is donned, colourful gourds are consumed, but most importantly, it is playoff rugby time. The McGill Redmen took on the Sherbrooke Vert et Or for their third tilt of the season Friday night at Percival Molson Stadium.

As a testament to QSSF Rugby, all playoff games are an unpredictable flurry of action, emotion, loose binds and big hearts. This match up was no different; for eighty minutes, two teams battled for a prized berth in the QSSF finals.

A physical regular season had taken its toll on the McGill starting line up. Connor McKenzie had suffered a Halloween related concussion, Liam O’Brian was out of action with undisclosed personal issues, Sergeev Valentine had fallen in love, and Zimbabwean winger Kuzivakwashe Murwira was refusing to brave the outdoors during the “Seriously” cold conditions of late October. The starting fifteen was hardly faring better: Sam spin-move Skulsky and Jon Lee had enough tape on their knees to pass as Mummies at the post-game costume party, Roderick Mackenzie’s toothless grin had scared off the already minimal female presence in the stands, and the sickly yellow of Trevor Clarke’s new dye job had inspired a general malaise among the team. Fortunately, the depth of McGill’s roster proved its worth as the infallible Joshua Balloch stepped in at flyhalf and Michael Bourdeau joined the dynamic forward pack.

The tense opening minutes was marked by a surprising score by the nimble Sherbrooke scrumhalf. The consistent boot of Gideon Balloch did little to alleviate the lull as the match was but 10-5 at half. As coach Craig Beemer said, straight from his literary heart, the team was a “Jekyll and Hyde” monster that had not quite decided on who was going to show up. Luckily for The Mighty Red, the matched turned out to be a Tale of Two Halfs.

A torrent of scoring took place in the latter forty minutes. McGill improved their speed to the breakdowns and overall physicality by taking an offensive stance towards the gameplay.The game had makings of the Wales France semi-final when Sherbrooke was reduced to 14 men after a vicious dump tackle on Korean flanker Jon Lee, a violent tackle now thought to be gang related. But after a first half more horror movie than holiday, it turned out to a Christmas for McGill winger Nick Santo Claus. The inside backs through him a series of gift wrapped passes that he carried into the endzone with indefatigable holiday cheer. Rowdy Roddy Mackenzie and Jon Lee made the hard earned yards to big their packs room to dance. Future Wall Streeter Devon Howard ran a targeted #Occupy the Sherbrooke try-zone campaign with a 20 yard run (clearly a future member of the 1%). Josh Balloch, as the mere physical extension of the brilliant strategies of the McGill Back’s Coaching Staff (included recently deputized back’s coach Connor Mackenzie), stabbed though a brilliant attacking grubber to reluctant try scorer: Quentin Pradere (he really wanted the crash ball instead.) And not to be outshined by his better looking twin brother, Gideon Balloch rang his last conversion off the uprights to round out the 42-5 scoreline.

The Vert et Or played exceptionally, their defense was tenacious (Colin Gallagher can attest to that, once he regains the power of speech) and their offense was threatening, yet the golden age of McGill Rugby is clearly far from over. And Trevor Clarke’s hair can attest to that. Next weekend is the final McGill vs. Concordia. The 6th consecutive championship is on the line.

write up by Trevor Clarke & Adrian "I-wish-I-were-Batman" Thorogood.