VANCOUVER, BC – Team captain Monty Weatherall scored 13 points, including the winning convert with 17 minutes remaining as fifth-seeded McGill rallied for a 23-22 victory over No.4 Wilfrid Laurier to win a quarter-final at the Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship tournament at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium, Wednesday.

Weatherall, an international development studies senior from Amersham, in England, was 3-for-3 on penalty kicks and converted both of McGill's tries to merit player-of-the-game honours for the Redbirds.

"That Monty, he's been a leader and a champion for us all year long," said McGill head coach Ian Baillie. "I've got nothing but superlatives for him. Not only is he a great athlete but he's a fantastic young man and a superstar of a leader. Whether it's a practice, a meeting or a game, he's been at the forefront of guiding the guys to where we need to be."

The entertaining end-to-end encounter saw the lead change hands five times before McGill, the RSEQ conference champs, came away with a historic first-ever quarter-final victory in two trips to the Nationals in this, the team's 150th year of existence since being formally organized in 1872. 

"We knew that Laurier had some skilled backs and that their forwards were big and strong, good at mauling the ball... so we wanted to move the ball away from them territorially by forcing them to turn their backs and run towards their end," Baillie said, explaining a plethora of quick kicks in the first half."I thought that both sides were inconsistent with their line-outs but our scrummaging went really well and we defended hard and tough against a big-sized, quality team."
 
Laurier, which qualified for the tourney by upsetting Queen's in the OUA silver medal game, appeared to have the bulk of the first half possession. But it was the Redbirds who got on the board early through a pair of penalty kicks by Weatherall, the RSEQ's regular season scoring leader, in the 10th and 13th minutes of play.
 
The Golden Hawks came storming back with a pair of Wyatt Brown tries, both of which were converted by team captain Adam McNee, in the 19th and 24th minute. But the Redbirds refused to lie down and reduced the deficit to five at the half with another Weatherall penalty, from a distance of 32 yards, in the 26th minute.

McNee had a chance to extend WLU's lead to seven on the last play of the half but missed on a 38-yard penalty kick.
 
McGill came out strong to start the second half and Weatherall's conversion of Alexander Armstrong's two-yard run for a try that gave the RSEQ champions a 16-14 lead in the 35th minute. Armstrong, 6-foot-3, 202-pound inside centre, is an economics junior from Hadlow, England.
 
Laurier regained the lead at 17-16 on a McNee penalty 42nd minute but the Redbirds answered back immediately with a long 30-yard run for a try by forward Dakota Stevenson, a psychology senior from Sayward, B.C. Weatherall's conversion gave the Montreal side their second six point lead of the game and proved to be the difference at the end.

"On that play, Monty saw some open space on the (right sideline) and executed a beautiful cross-kick that was recovered by Martin Laval, who broke wide to the touch line and drew the defender to him," Baillie said. "Then he pitched the ball to Stevenson, who just pinned his ears back and ran hell bent for the goal line. He played a strong game today and it was a homecoming for him. Great to see him do that in front of his friends and family."
 
A yellow card to McGill's Nicolas Dube-Mercier with seven minutes remaining, opened the door for Laurier to come back once again. Only a minute later, Nicholas Harrington scored a try against a shorthanded McGill side but a missed conversion by McNee  proved to be the difference.
 
Dylan Di Girolamo was named as Laurier's player of the game..
 
Fifth-seeded McGill now moves onto a championship semifinal clash with No. 8 Trinity Western on Friday (Dec. 2) at 10:30 p.m. (Eastern), after the Spartans upset top-seeded Victoria by an identical 23-22 score in the day's first quarter-final.
 
Laurier is now relegated to the consolation round semifinals, where they will meet Victoria on Friday.

REDBIRDS RAP: There was a large contingent of McGill alumni and families at the game. Among the faces in the crowd, were former McGill team captains, including Trevor Clarke (BA '13) and Marc Webster (BA '14), both natives of Vancouver and Jon Phelan, one of McGill's all-time greats who had a long post-university rugby playing career, both on the international stage with Team Canada and at the pro level... Susan Schincariol, mother of injured McGill senior Basel Schincariol -- a Vancouver native who missed the season due to knee surgery -- showed up with care packages for the entire team with fruit, protein bars, sports drinks, etc... Due to the tournament format, with three games in five days, all matches are 60 minutes in duration, 20 short of the standard playing time.


SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 23, Laurier 22
(Quarter-final)
 
FIRST HALF:

1. McG: Monty Weatherall, PEN. KICK, 10', (McG 3, WLU 0)
2. McG: Monty Weatherall, PEN. KICK, 13', (McG 6, WLU 0)
3. WLU: Wyatt Brown TRY (convert by Adam McNee), 19', (WLU 7, McG 6)
4. WLU: Wyatt Brown TRY (convert by Adam McNee), 24', (WLU 14, McG 6)
5. McG: Monty Weatherall, PEN. KICK, 26', (WLU 14, McG 9)
6. WLU: Adam McNee MISSED PEN. KICK, 30'

 
SECOND HALF:

7. McG: Alexander Armstrong TRY (convert by Monty Weatherall), 35' (McG 16-14)
8. WLU: Adam McNee, PEN. KICK, 42' (WLU 17-16 )
9. McG: Dakota Stevenson, TRY (convert by Monty Weatherall), 43' (McG 23-17)
10. McG: Nicolas Dube-Mercier (YELLOW CARD), 53'
11. WLU: Nicholas Harrington, TRY (convert missed by Adam McNee), 54' (McG 23-22)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
McG: Monty Weatherall
WLU: Dylan Di Girolamo


TOURNAMENT PROGRAM:
The official program of the 2022 CUMRC including all team rosters (PDF)

TOURNAMENT WEBSITE:
https://gothunderbirds.ca/sports/2022/9/14/2022-canadian-university-mens-rugby-championships.aspx

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE & RESULTS:

Wednesday Nov. 30
Quarter-final 1 - Trinity Western 23, Victoria 22 - Game Recap/Scoring Summary 
Quarter-final 2 - Guelph 28, Memorial 22 - Game Recap/Scoring Summary 
Quarter-final 3 - UBC 53, Calgary 0 - Game Recap/Scoring Summary
Quarter-final 4 - McGill 23, Laurier 22

Friday Dec. 2
11:00 Consolation Semi Final 1 - Victoria vs. Laurier
14:00 Consolation Semi Final 2 - Memorial vs. Calgary
17:00 Championship Semi Final 1 - Guelph vs. UBC
19:30 Championship Semi Final 2 - TWU vs. McGill

Sunday, Dec. 4
9:00 Consolation Final (7&8)
11:00 Consolation Final (5&6)
13:00 Bronze Medal Game - Awards Ceremony (Following the game)
15:30 Gold Medal Game - Awards Ceremony (Following the game)


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman, McGill Sports Info Office
Michael McColl, UBC Sports info Office