By: Jeannie Bryson
On Saturday, May 13th, the four Ormstown Saracens Rugby teams travelled to Twin Elm Rugby park in Eastern Ontario to take on the Ottawa Irish. The park has been the site of numerous international test matches featuring the Canadian national Men’s and Women’s teams. The teams fought hard but the ladies premier division team went home with the only Saracens win of the day.
The ladies’ second team had the liberty of kicking off the day on the Championship pitch. The Irish opened the scoring with a converted try (7-0). The Saracens followed with a try by Chloe Duncan at the end of the first half (7-5). The Irish scored two tries in the second half resulting in the final score of 17-5 for the Irish.
The Lady Saracens first team won their game with only a few minutes left on the clock. Coach, Stephen Kaplan commented that the significant thing was that the girls always came back, even in the last play. The girls dominated many lineouts and scrums. Forward, Katelyn McKellar did an excellent job winning and stealing lineout balls. While cousins, Chloe Duncan and Cindel Chartrand lead the team with the most tackles. The game started with a try by fullback, Jenna Giuliani. Frustrated over Noala Beattie-Dagenais’ held up try, the ladies came back with a forward crash by Caitlin MacDougall, who almost got over the line, but handed the ball off to Cara Stuckey get the try (10-0). The Irish followed with a try (10-5). Erika Hamilton kicked a penalty for the Saracens, and the Irish tried to close the gap with another try (13-10). Scrumhalf, Kaylie Stuckey closed out the first half with a try, converted by Hamilton to bring the score to 20-10. The Irish got a converted try at the beginning of the second half (20-17), followed with a second try by Kaylie Stuckey and conversion by Erika Hamilton (27-17). The Irish scored twice, with one conversion, to put them ahead for the first time in the game (29-27). But the ladies came back with a good run by Hamilton, that resulted in a try by Chartrand. Final score was 32-29 for the Saracens.
The men’s B team had a close loss. Eric Houle got a try, converted by Jason Aldridge. In the second half, Corey Caza got a try, followed by Brandon McDowell. Then a mighty run by forward Mirick Dulude resulted in a try by Russell Ward. Matt Hancox also kicked a penalty. Final score was 29-25 in favour of the Irish. Coach Mike Helm commented that the boys faught hard and that forward Dulude had a great game.
The men’s first team lead their game until the end of the first half. Scott McClintock scored in the opening play of the game, off a dummy scissor play with Shaun Blair, which was converted by Aussie fullback, Matt Hancox (7-0). Blair scored the second try, converted again by Hancox, followed by a try from the Irish (12-5). Then Jason Aldridge scored one up the middle, converted by Hancox (19-5). The first half ended with two quick tries by the Irish to make it 19-19. McClintock again opened the scoring in the second half (26-19), but sadly the Irish would dominate the rest of the half with two tries and a penalty kick to win the game 37-26. Forwards Kent Cullen and Tristan Jadah-Guay made some big tackles in the game. Coach Helm remarked that it was a great defensive game and they had lost because of two bad plays. He was happy they got their bonus point.