BISHOPS SHUT OUT 36-0, CLUB 1 WIN 1 LOSS vs QUEENS

Ah, the ides of October. A sumptuous month, rich with ornate colours and fescue, with which those harnessing even the slightest notion of a romantic heart, quiver with glee amongst the foliage. While there are those who’s saccharine tastes are more palatable to this experience, myself and fine young gentlemen of McGill RFC beg to differ. Take your crabapples and shove ‘em, Autumn.

McGill RFC’s Club A and Club B teams were in early action as all members of our fine organization were bussed across town to play our ‘home’ games at École St. George (yes, I learned how to create an accent aigu). This was perfect contextual research I needed for my American History midterm I had been studying for nigh hours before. The Club A team was first to play against one of Queen’s many sides (they had players ranging from their 2nd to 5th XV), on a refreshingly natural grass field. The action was fast and hard from the beginning, after a few minutes – it seemed there was no end in sight… the rugby was pretty good too.

Queen’s took an early lead in the game, but it was the Redmen’s tenacious play in the middle stanza of the game that shifted the tide. We carried this momentum into the second half with tries coming from all over the field, Tal Schwartz, Nitai Ben-Shach and Ben “Guillaume” Beland all notched solid scores. Unfortunately, there was a serious lapse in play when one of the Queen’s players suffered a possible traumatic injury. He ended up being A-OK, but the break de-adrelalinized the veins of many a McGill player. Our play never quite picked up to the pre-stoppage pace. While Queen’s did come away with the win, this was an important and very connective step for the Club A side which is constantly in flux between players of various skill-sets and experience.

The Club B game had exponentially more success than its predecessors. While the narrator of McGill RFC’s season had to jettison off to the next game (played across the road), I heard rumblings of outstanding play from our rookies and second-year players alike. A solid win for the McGill Club against a very despotic and myopic Queen’s XV that featured one of the most despicable Koreans south of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Regardless, I am extremely proud that this outstanding rapscallion ménage of a troupe.

The fifth regular season game for The Mighty Red took place out at Macdonald Campus, McGill’s unwanted step-child of a school. Located at the furthest precipice of the island of Montreal, this leafy campus definitely the try-hard, putting in all that work to look nice, yet hardly gets any recognition for the sublime Agriculturalists and Dieticians they produce.

McEwan Field resembled a WWI battlefield after the McGill Marlets Rugby team thrashed the visiting Bishop’s Women’s Rugby team 109-0. That is some WNBA scoring, folks. With optimism the Redmen took the field and continued the streak of dominance. Slotting a plethora of tries in the first half, McGill did not look back, cruising to a 36-0 victory (combined score on the day 145-0). McGill arguably played their most complete game of the season in the route. Bishop’s classic style of play is a constant threat to upset the incumbent champions, but not on this day. Every player, one to fifteen had a fantastic game, even super-subs Colin Callacher, Devon Howard and Nitai Ben-Shach deserve some much-needed praise.

This also marked a strange turn of events at star inside-center, Sam Skulsky made is return to the pitch. Leaving almost everyone in attendance questioning if this was a playoff game or not…

On a much more light-hearted note, Redmen Rugby won the 2nd Varsity Trivia Night hosted at Gert’s Bar. We took 3 of the 8 rounds for a resounding cumulative victory of both smarts and drinking ability.

Also, the McGill Third’s Side had yet another game against Dawson College on Wednesday. There was a fight (good on ya Rob Ashe, I told you that lankiness would come in handy), Houmza and Skywalker played flanker, we won… that is all.

write up by Trevor Clarke.