MONTREAL --
Rémi De Marassé of France tallied 10 points as the Université de Montréal rallied to defeat McGill 25-15 and capture their first-ever RSEQ men's rugby championship, on a blustery Sunday, at Terrain Vincent d'Indy.
The Carabins, who finished with a perfect 9-0 record overall, handed McGill (7-2) their only two setbacks this season, having previously prevailed 23-19 at the same Vincent d'Indy venue on Sept. 24. The result also avenged last season's 10-9 McGill victory on the final play of the championship game. McGill has won 11 of the past 15 championships, dating back to 2002.
De Marassé earned his points with penalty kicks in the 20th and 44th minutes, and conversions in the 36th and 48th minutes.
McGill got off to a strong start with an unconverted try by
Alex Pantis, an economics freshman from Beaconsfield, Que., in the fifth minute, but the hosts recovered with 15 points in the latter part of the half.
Bernard Kaminski, a software engineering senior from Pointe Claire, Que., added another unconverted try for the Redmen in 40th minute to narrow the gap to 15-10 heading into the intermission.
Anthony Di Ioia (30'),
Pierre Constantin (36'), and
Pierre Dupont (48') each scored tries for Montreal.
McGill added a try in the 61st minute but the Redmen rally fell short and ran out of time.
Among the McGill seniors expected to graduate are fifth-year seniors
Mitchell Cuillerier and
Danick Arnaud, along with
Felix Grignon,
Sebastian Grutter,
Bernard Kaminski,
Jordan (Kaleb) Nima,
Alex Wang,
Patrick Wang and
Jamie Wilson, plus
Andrew Manson, an exchange student from Edinburgh, Scotland.
SCORING SUMMARY
Montreal 25, McGill 15
(RSEQ Championship Game)
FIRST HALF:
1. McGill -
Alex Pantis TRY (conversion failed), 5:00 (McGill 5-0)
2. Montreal -
Rémi De Marassé PENALTY KICK, 20:00 (McGill 5-3)
3. Montreal-
Anthony Di Ioia TRY (conversion failed), 30:00 (Montreal 8-5)
4. Montreal-
Pierre Constantin TRY (conversion by
Rémi De Marassé), 36:00 (Montreal 15-5)
5. McGill -
Bernard Kaminski TRY (conversion failed), 40:00 (Montreal 15-10)
SECOND HALF:
6. Montreal -
Rémi De Marassé PENALTY KICK, 44:00 (Montreal 18-10)
7. Montreal -
Pierre Dupont TRY (conversion by
Rémi De Marassé), 48:00 (Montreal 25-10)
8. McGill -
Unknown TRY (conversion failed), 61:00 (Montreal 25-15)
