MONTREAL --
Andreas Dionisopoulos scored a pair of tries -- and had two others erased on penalties -- as the McGill University men's rugby team hammered Harvard 47-15 in the 38th annual Covo Cup Classic, played before a record crowd of 1,560 at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, Saturday.
The Cup was presented by McGill principal and vice-chancellor
Suzanne Fortier to team captain
Jessen Gibbs, a software engineering senior from White Rock, B.C. Despite a light drizzle throughout most of the game, the event surpassed the school's previous rugby attendance high set on Nov. 13, 2015 when a crowd of 997 watched McGill edge the Montreal Carabins 10-9 in the RSEQ conference championship game at Molson Stadium.
McGill has now won eight straight Cup victories over the prestigious Ivy League school from Cambridge, Mass., and owns a 24-14 lifetime record in the almost annual competition which was initiated in 1974 to mark the centennial of the 1874 meeting, the first ever rugby-football game played in North America between two collegiate clubs.
McGill, which led 26-3 at halftime, tallied four first-half tries and added three more in the second stanza.
"We've had a little more practice time on the field than Harvard had and it showed a bit," said McGill head coach
Ian Baillie. "Our structures and patterns were more crisp because we've had the opportunity to play once already where they haven't. Lots of real good rugby plays -- but still lots to work on. I was really happy with how aggressively we played, particularly our defending. We had a couple of lulls but in an 80-minute game, they do happen. We responded well out of them. I didn't like that we lulled right at the end but the first time that we did, we quickly got our composure and discipline back and focused on handling the game again after Harvard had taken it away from us for a few minutes."
Playing from the No.8 position, Dionisopoulos, a domineering 6-foot-1, 226-pound microbiology sophomore from Montreal, scored a scrum try in the 14th minute to give his side a 12-0 lead then added another major in the 60th minute, upping the score to 33-8 -- just minutes after Harvard had notched one -- to erase any hopes of a Crimson comeback.
"Dion was very good, he was our player of the day for certain," noted Baillie. "His attack and defence was very strong, His command of the scrum and his control gave us all that set-piece platform to work off of."
Fly-half
Monty Weatherall, an international development studies freshman from Amersham in the U.K., scored eight points, converting four of his five attempts.
Other tries for McGill were scored by senior
Josh Worden, sophomore
Thomas Richards, junior
Benjamin Russell, rookie
Jacob Robb and sophomore
Owen Cumming
Rounding out the McGill scoring was freshman
Ian McDowell of Dorval, Que., who went 2-for-2 on his convert attempts.
"The Covo Cup is a big deal to the players," added Baillie. "They picked up on the energy from our alumni and the importance and history of this event and the significance of it. You could tell at the end when they hoisted the Cup, their reaction to it showed how big a deal this was for them. It was a fantastic crowd too and the players had that extra push because of it, they fed off each other. This event will do an awful lot for promotion of the game and the sport."
Leading the scoring for Harvard was
Ryan Santos, a fly-half from The Philippines, who tallied five points. He was awarded a first-half penalty goal and connected from 33 yards out to narrow the gap to 14-3 in the 39th minute. Santos, who converted a try by
Gavin Prentice, also missed a conversion on a try by
Sebastian Schwartz.
McGill, which scrimmaged against RMC in the preseason last week in Kingston, Ont., is now 1-0 overall and will turn their focus on the RSEQ conference opener at Concordia on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 3 p.m.
GAME NOTES: The trophy is named in memory of the late
Peter Covo, a former multi-sport athlete at McGill, who went on to become a professor and rugby coach at the University but perished in a tragic car accident in 1973. His two sons,
David and
Ken Covo, were both in attendance at this contest, as was
Chris Herten-Greaven, who refereed the first Covo Cup game, a 6-3 McGill victory, in 1974.
SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 47, Harvard 15
(38th Covo Cup Game)
FIRST HALF:
1. McGill TRY:
Josh Worden (converted by
Monty Weatherall) (McGill 7-0), 3:00
2. McGill TRY:
Andreas Dionisopoulos (converted by
Monty Weatherall) (McGill 14-0), 25:00
3. Harvard PEN KICK:
Ryan Santos (33 yds) (McG 14-3), 29:00
4. McGill TRY:
Thomas Richards (converted by
Monty Weatherall) (McG 21-3), 35:00
5. McGill TRY:
Benjamin Russell (converted missed by
Monty Weatherall) (McG 26-3), 40:00
SECOND HALF:
6. Harvard TRY:
Sebastian Schwartz (convert missed by Ryan Santos) (McG 26-8), 54:00
7. McGill TRY:
Andreas Dionisopoulos (converted by
Monty Weatherall) (McG 33-8), 60:00
8. McGill TRY
Jacob Robb (converted by Ian McDowall) (McG 40-8), 71:00
9. McGill TRY:
Owen Cumming (converted by Ian McDowall) (McG 47-8), 73:00
10.Harvard TRY:
Gavin Prentice (converted by Ryan Santos) (McG 47-15), 80:00
McGill Official Dress-list
| No. |
NAME |
POSITION |
HOMETOWN |
| 1 |
Jeremy OckoMichalak |
Prop |
Los Angeles, CA (USA) |
| 2 |
Pierre Grison |
Hooker |
Arronville (FRANCE) |
| 3 |
Alexander Pantis |
Prop |
Beaconsfield, QC |
| 4 |
Karl Hunger |
Second Row |
Beaconsfield, QC |
| 5 |
Michael Nwabufo |
Second Row |
Ottawa, ON |
| 6 |
Ryan Robb |
Flanker |
Wilton, CT (USA) |
| 7 |
Thomas Richards |
Flanker |
Beaconsfield (ENGLAND) |
| 8 |
Andreas Dionisopoulos |
8-Man |
Montreal, QC |
| 9 |
Jessen Gibbs "c" |
Scrum Half |
White Rock, BC |
| 10 |
Monty Weatherall |
Fly Half |
Amersham (UK) |
| 11 |
Dylan Havelock |
Left Wing |
Ottawa, ON |
| 12 |
Elliot Esposito |
Center |
Madrid (SPAIN) |
| 13 |
Maxime Rieuf |
Center |
Los Angeles, CA (USA) |
| 14 |
Josh Worden |
Right Wing |
Washington, DC (USA) |
| 15 |
Benjamin Russell |
Fullback |
Chichester (ENGLAND) |
| 16 |
Lee Brickman |
Hooker |
Halifax, NS |
| 17 |
Munir Yalin |
Prop |
Istanbul (TURKEY) |
| 18 |
Eric Shuell |
Prop |
Toronto, ON |
| 19 |
Ian McDowell |
Second Row |
Dorval, QC |
| 20 |
Owen Cumming |
Back Row |
Toronto, ON |
| 21 |
Darren Elias |
Scrum Half |
Toronto, ON |
| 22 |
Jacob Robb |
Center |
Wilton, CT (USA) |
| 23 |
Jack Tucker |
Winger |
Toronto, ON |
Head Coach: Ian
Baillie
Harvard Official Dress-list
| No. |
NAME |
POSITION |
HOMETOWN |
| 1 |
Pat Conor |
Prop |
Arlington, MA |
| 2 |
Adam Harper |
Hooker |
Atlanta, GA |
| 3 |
Gavin Prentice |
Prop |
Seattle, WA |
| 4 |
Andrew Lewis |
Second Row |
New York City, NY |
| 5 |
David Carey |
Second Row |
Framingham, MA |
| 6 |
Robert Collins |
Flanker |
Hyannis, MA |
| 7 |
Nick Monaco |
Flanker |
London (England) |
| 8 |
Cameron Clark |
8-Man |
Capetown (South Africa) |
| 9 |
Spencer Carter |
Scrum Half |
Pelham, NY |
| 10 |
Ryan Santos |
Fly Half |
Manilla (The Phillipines) |
| 11 |
Albie Giandomenico |
Left Wing |
Roslindale, MA |
| 12 |
Sebastian Schwartz |
Center |
Sydney (Australia) |
| 13 |
Pierce O'Donnell |
Center |
Santa Barbara, CA |
| 14 |
Allessio Fikre |
Right Wing |
Greenwich, CT |
| 15 |
Andrew Desouza |
Fullback |
Toronto (Canada) |
| 16 |
Phil Labrum |
Hooker |
London (England) |
| 17 |
Matt Hawes |
Prop |
Princeton, NJ |
| 18 |
Adolfo Roquero |
Prop |
Madrid (Spain) |
| 19 |
Mike Pumiglia |
Second Row |
Newburg, NY |
| 20 |
Jerry Yang |
Back Row |
New York City, NY |
| 21 |
Tareq Habash |
Scrum Half |
Bethesda, MD |
| 22 |
Anthony Monaco |
Center |
London (England) |
Head Coach: Mike
Diamantopoulos
Covo Cup History
1974: McGill won 6-3
1975: McGill won 13-12
1976: Harvard won 27-0
1977: Harvard won 24-10
1978: McGill won 12-8
1979: Harvard won 16-0 (or 19-0)
1980: Harvard won 27-9
1981: McGill won 10-6
1982: McGill won 15-3
1983: McGill won 8-0
1984: McGill won 28-7
1985: McGill won 21-0
1986: McGill won 49-3
1987: McGill won 22-14
1988: Harvard won 9-7
1989: Harvard won (score unavailable)
1990: McGill won 35-0
1991: Harvard won 16-9
1992: McGill won 14-8
1993: Harvard won 14-9
1994: Harvard won 9-7
1995: McGill won 30-7
1996: McGill won 32-25
1997: Harvard won 17-14
1998: Harvard won (score unavailable)
1999: (no game)
2000: (no game)
2001: McGill won 45-7
2002: Harvard won 17-0
2003: McGill won 37-0
2004: (no game)
2005: (no game)
2006: Harvard won 10-7
2007: Harvard won 22-7
2008: (no game)
2009: McGill won 15-3
2010: McGill won 34-17
2011: (no game)
2012: McGill won 41-30
2013: McGill won 31-7
2014: (no game)
2015: (no game)
2016: (no game)
2017: McGill won 42-12
2018 (spring): McGill won 29-26
2018 (fall): McGill won 46-33
2019: McGill won 47-15
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
