MONTREAL – Senior
Jean-Christophe Vinette of Lorraine, Que., scored a pair of tries and freshman fly-half
Arthur Du Chauffaut of Barcelona kicked for eight points as the Concordia Stingers cruised to a 33-0 shutout over McGill in the RSEQ men's championship game played before a sellout crowd of 1,463 at Percival Molson Stadium, Saturday. The crowd size was the largest ever to witness a playoff game in the Quebec conference and just shy of surpassing the McGill overall record (1,560) set in the 2019 Covo Cup, a non-conference game against Harvard.
The Stingers, who led 21-0 at halftime, advance to the Canadian university championship tournament in Kingston, Nov. 24-28.
Du Chauffaut converted four of the five tries scored by the visitors. Rounding out the scoring, with one try apiece was
Dylan MacDonald,
Mohamed Al Moallim and
Stan Blazkowski.
"Concordia was the better team today," said McGill bench boss
Ian Baillie, who was named earlier in the week as the league's coach of the year. "They capitalized on every scoring opportunity that they created. Their structure, discipline, and skill got them down to our line and their execution and patience got them over it. We created several opportunities to score but made far too many errors at critical times and came away empty-handed."
The Redbirds finished with a 6-2 record overall, including a 5-1 first-place finish in the RSEQ conference.
"I am very proud of all the work that the boys put in this fall, and incredibly grateful of McGill Athletics in getting us back on the field, and our amazing alumni support through the season," Baillie added. "While disappointed not to be going to the Nationals, we are looking forward to watching Concordia represent our conference at the tournament in Kingston."
Ten seniors are expected to graduate. The group includes
Neos Dionisopoulos (BSc) of Westmount, Que.,
Jeremy OckoMichalak (BA),
Karl Hunger (BA) of Beaconsfield, Que.,
Thomas Richards (BA) of Beaconsfield, England,
Ian McDowell (BSc) of Dorval, Que.,
Sam Elrington (BA) of Gex, France,
Charles-Eric Lorin (BCom) from France,
Maxime Rieuf BEng) of Orchard Park, N.Y.,
Kyle Myers (BEng) of Beaconsfield, Que., and
Benjamin Russell (BA) of Chichester, England.
OFFICIAL SCORESHEET
RSEQ STANDINGS & STATS
RSEQ RUGBY (m) CHAMPIONSHIP
SCORING SUMMART
Concordia 33, McGill 0
(@ Percival Molson Stadium)
FIRST HALF:
- Concordia: TRY Jean-Christophe Vinette (convert made by Arthur Du Chauffaut), 20' (Con 7-0)
- Concordia: TRY Dylan MacDonald (convert made by Arthur Du Chauffaut), 33' (Con 14-0)
- Concordia: TRY Jean-Christophe Vinette (convert made by Arthur Du Chauffaut), 38' (Con 21-0)
SECOND HALF:
- Concordia: TRY Mohamed Al Moallim (convert missed by Arthur Du Chauffaut), 64' (Con 26-0)
- Concordia: TRY Stan Blazkowski (convert made by Arthur Du Chauffaut) 78' (Con 33-0)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME :
Concordia:
Luca Rodrigues-Milne
McGill:
Thomas Richards
