Men's Rugby | 9/15/2017 11:42:00 PM

SHERBROOKE, Que – Josh Bray of Lennoxville, Que., scored a dozen points as the Bishops Gaiters defeated McGill 32-27 in a men's rugby thriller at Bruce Coulter Field, Friday. Bray, a 5-foot-9 scrum-half connected on a pair of penalty kicks and converted four tries to merit man-of-the-match honours for his side.

BU, which led 22-17 at halftime, never trailed but watched twice as McGill battled back to tie the score at 7-7 in the seventh minute of play and 22-22 in the fifth minute of the second half.

Bishop's opened the scoring with a try from Brock Spencer of Langley, B.C., converted by Bray, to cap a great opening drive by the Gaiters offence. Five minutes later, shortly after a BU penalty, a McGill line-out led to freshman Antoine Guay answering back with a self-converted try to tie the game at 7-7.

After a McGill penalty at the 10-minute mark, the Gaiters elected to kick for points and Bray made no mistake, sending his first of two penalty goals through the uprights for a 10-7 lead. Later in the first half McGill junior Sebastien Boyer was handed a yellow, but the Redmen held strong and did not allow a point while a man down.

Carter Filion's converted try gave BU a 17-7 advantage in the 15th minute but Jean-Pierre Nixon, a biology junior from Hong Kong, replied with a converted try in the 32nd minute as McGill narrowed the gap to 17-14. Two minutes later, Paul Gehrig tallied an unconverted try to put Bishop's up 22-14. the Redmen continued to battle and Guay nailed a penalty kick in the 39th minute to send the teams into intermission with Bishop's holding on to a 22-17 lead.

McGill opened the second half with a quick, unconverted try when Istanbul native Munir Yalin struck pay-dirt at the 45-min mark to tie the score at 22-22. Nine minutes later, the Gaiters replied again when Andrew Harrison's converted try put his side ahead 29-22.  The Redmen threatened once more when Pierre Grison, a 19-year-old sophomore from France, registered a try in the 65th minute. The conversion was missed again, so the Gaiters clung to a 29-27 lead. Bishop's replied just two minutes later, with Bray connecting on a penalty kick to give his troops a 32-27 advantage.

The Redmen defence held strong over the next stint with a pair of successful goal-line stands. McGill did a great job at holding possession throughout the match, but to no avail as the Gaiters managed to capitalize when they had to. Bishop's appeared to score another major in the 77th minute but the try was disallowed due to a penalty.

Kyle Makischuk, an economics senior from Toronto, was selected as Game MVP for McGill.

BU (2-0-0) returns to action on Sept. 22, when the Montreal Carabins (1-0-0) visit Coulter Field during Bishop's Homecoming Week. McGill, which dropped to 0-2, will try to snap their two-game slide when they tackle the Piranhas (0-1) from École de technologie supériore on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY
Bishop's 32, McGill 27
(@ Bruce Coulter Field, Lennoxville, Que)
 
FIRST HALF:
1. Bishop's - Brock Spencer TRY (conversion by Josh Bray) 2:00 (Bishop's 7-0)
2. McGill - Antoine Guay TRY (conversion by Antoine Guay) 7:00 (Tied 7-7)
3. Bishop's - Josh Bray PENALTY KICK, 10:00 (Bishop's 10-7)
4. Bishop's - Carter Filion TRY (conversion by Josh Bray) 15:00 (Bishop's 17-7)
5. McGill - Jean-Pierre Nixon TRY (conversion by Antoine Guay) 32:00 (Bishop's 17-14)
6. Bishop's - Paul Gehrig TRY (conversion missed by Josh Bray) 34:00 (Bishop's 22-14)
7. McGill - Antoine Guay PENALTY KICK, 39:00 (Bishop's 22-17)

SECOND HALF:
8. McGill - Munir Yalin TRY (conversion missed by Antoine Guay) 45:00 (Tied 22-22)
9. Bishop's - Andrew Harrison TRY (conversion by Josh Bray) 54:00 (Bishop's 29-22)
10. McGill - Pierre Grison TRY (conversion missed by Antoine Guay) 65:00 (Bishop's 29-27)
11. Bishop's - Josh Bray PENALTY KICK, 67:00 (Bishop's 32-27)

GAME MVPs:
Bishop's: Josh Bray
McGill: Kyle Makischuk

2017 RSEQ MEN'S RUGBY STANDINGS
(updated after games on Sept. 15)

 

Pos	EAST DIV.	MJ	V	D	N	PP	PC	PTS	Bonis	PTS
1	Montréal	1	1	0	0	31	0	4	1	5
2	ETS	1	0	1	0	12	19	0	1	1
3	Sherbrooke	1	0	1	0	0	31	0	0	0

Pos	WEST DIV.	GP	W	L	T	PF	PA	PTS	Bonus	PTS
1	Bishop's	2	2	0	0	51	39	8	1	9
2	Concordia	1	1	0	0	38	10	4	1	5
3	McGill	2	0	2	0	37	70	0	2	2

NOTE: 4 points awarded for a win,  2 points for a tie. A bonus point is awarded to any team that scores four 9or more) tries in a game and also to any team that loses by seven points or less.