Queen’s opened the 2000 OUA men’s rugby season in Ottawa on Wednesday with an inspirational 95-0 victory over Carleton.
Men’s Rugby
From the opening whistle the onslaught began as Dave Ellis slotted a penalty kick in the opening minute to put Queen’s ahead 3-0. The try parade started soon after with the first of veteran winger Steve Cumming’s four tries. Over the next forty minutes Queen’s scored at will. By half time they had amassed a 50-0 lead.
The Gael’s quickly picked up in the second half where they left off in the first with three tries in the first ten minutes. The try barrage continued, coming as steadily and remorselessly throughout the second half just as they did in the first. Ellis, a fifth year fullback, led the Gaels with thirty-five points.
Displaying masterful kicking ability he converted eleven of Queen’s fourteen tries while scoring two himself and kicking a penalty goal.
Second row Chad Spence and outside center Andrew Thompson each contributed two tries to the Queen’s tally.
Queen’s 95-15
Carleton 0-0
Consistently retaining the ball in contact, the Gaels stuck to their regimented objective of smacking the ball inside for the first phases, a precursor to sending the pill wide for the try. Setting up their inside crashes was the mob of savage forwards, and center Matt Hodgson, who froze the Raven wing line with an array of side steps and spin moves. Team captain Geoff Phelan was pleased with his team’s attitude and effort.
“We knew we were going to have a tough battle up front and once we accomplished what we wanted there it opened up a lot of room for the back line,” said Phelan.
Forwards coach Herb Steacy was also happy with Queen’s play, adding, “we kept to our game plan and retained ninety per cent of possession. We were satisfied with the performance of every player on the first team and the second team.” In a bid to gain CIAU recognition, the OUA decided last year to amalgamate the OUA first and second divisions starting this season. The Ravens were in the second division last year and the Gaels were at the top of the first division, which might explain the large discrepancy in the score. Coach Steacy elaborated on the disparity between the two teams.
“Today showed the gap in performance between the old tier two teams and the tier one teams. Hopefully as the tier two teams get more and more experience the gap will close.” said Steacy.
Including Queen’s 76-0 victory over Dartmouth University last week, the Gaels have won both their games this year by an astounding combined score of 171-0.
The second team, following the first team’s lead, beat Carleton’s second team in a shortened game. Due to fading light the game was shortened drastically. Queen’s rolled to a 15-0 victory in a sloppy game filled with dropped balls. They were led by eight-man Jon Carthy who scored the game’s only two tries.
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