MONTREAL – Well it wasn't exactly a game of Survivor but McGill University certainly outwitted, outplayed and outlasted Harvard 57-0 in the 39th annual Covo Cup men's rugby game before a raucous crowd of 1,807 at Percival Molson Stadium, Saturday.
In an event that was streamed worldwide on CBC Gem, this marked the 150th anniversary of first-ever meeting of these Mensa rivals on May 15, 1874 in Cambridge, Mass., with a return match in Montreal on Oct. 23, 1874 that became the first-ever intercollegiate rugby-style football game played in Canada.
The crowd for this contest was the second largest ever to witness a university men's rugby match in Quebec, falling just short of the 1,830 in attendance on Nov. 4, 2022, that watched McGill defeat Ottawa 31-24 to capture the RSEQ conference championship. Ranking third on that list was a crowd of 1,560 that saw McGill defeat Harvard 47-15 in the last Covo Cup contest, played on Sept. 7, 2019.
McGill has now won nine straight Cup victories over the prestigious Ivy League school and owns a 25-14 lifetime record in the almost annual competition.
This magical series was reborn in 1974 to mark the centennial of the 1874 meetings, which laid the foundation for American and Canadian college football. Prior to that date, schools had only played soccer-style "football" games against each other. McGill students introduced the rugby-style to Harvard, which allowed players to pick up the ball and run with it.
Ironically, both the 1974 centennial and the 2024 sesquicentennial games were played on the same date (Oct. 19), with the inaugural Covo Cup game resulting in a 6-3 McGill victory at Molson Stadium in 1974. Although the Cup is an exhibition game, it means more to the players, coaches and alumni, than one could imagine.
"This game marks a true sense of the historic rivalry between the two schools and the birth of a cross-border sport," said
Ian Baillie, who owns a 76-28-3 overall record in 12 years (11 seasons) as head coach at McGill. "That's what our guys are getting from this. It's a real sense of their place in history and the importance of this game to our alumni. They feel the support and the heart that our alumni have for this and it is really infectious to our group. We have first-year guys, aged 17 and 18, who quickly got a sense of this history and that they are part of it, which is great. And for a couple of the older guys who played in the last Covo Cup in 2019, and now they get to experience this again as they are about to graduate. This is a real big deal to them."
Martin Laval, a senior who hails from France, scored 14 points to pace the Redbirds, who led 38-0 at halftime before making liberal substitutions in the second half.
"He was firing on all cylinders when our captain went down with an injury (early in the season) and Martin has taken on a leadership role exceptionally well," said Baillie. "He does a great job of driving the lads forward, so we're really pleased to have him with us for the year and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does in the playoffs."
McGill tallied a whopping nine tries in the contest, including a pair by Laval, who missed both of his conversions, but was successful in converting tries by
Anderson Recker and
Neos Dionisopoulos.
Other majors were scored by siblings
Harry Corkum and
Matthew Corkum, in addition to
John Feehan,
Will Simpson and
Damon Scharfe. Rounding out the scoring was
Dominic Russell and
Max Bernhart, who had two conversions apiece.
McGill was lucky to have a bye week in its schedule but Harvard was not as fortunate and had to send a split squad across the border as they had a scheduling conflict, with a regular season game against Iona University (a 38-10 loss) slated for the same day.
"I'm so proud, pleased and astounded with Harvard coming all the way up for this event, knowing the schedule that they face in their Liberty Conference," Baillie noted. "Their schedule is extended well beyond ours and the fact that they recognize the importance of this event is massive and they came up to celebrate it with us, so I couldn't be more pleased about it. Their conference schedule and ours make it very challenging to fit this game in during the fall."
This was the eighth shutout in the 39 Covo Cup games and the first in 21 years, dating back to a 37-0 McGill victory in 2003. It marked the most lopsided Cup conquest, surpassing the 49-3 result for McGill in 1986.
Part of the festivities included the pre-game unveiling of a commemorative plaque to mark the 150th anniversary. Fifty years ago, a similar plaque was presented to McGill from the CIAU (now known as U SPORTS) and installed at the main entrance to McGill's Sir Arthur Currie Gym for the 1974 centennial.
The Cup was presented after the game by
Geoffrey Phillips, executive director of athletics and recreation at McGill, along with Professor
David Covo from McGill's School of Architecture and his brother
Ken Covo, a former captain and MVP of the McGill hockey team. Both are sons 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. He conducted most of the groundwork in organizing the 1974 rendezvous but never lived to see it through as he perished in a tragic car accident in 1973.
The Redbirds, who improved to 6-2 overall, finished in a three-way tie for first in the RSEQ conference with ETS, Ottawa and McGill each posting a 5-1 record. But McGill ended up third, based on the bonus points awarded to teams that score four tries in a game or lose by seven (or less) points. When that factored into the standings, ETS finished atop the conference and will host fourth-place Montreal (3-3), while Ottawa placed second and will host McGill in the other semifinal, slated for Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. So McGill cannot host a playoff game, unless ETS or Ottawa are knocked off in the semifinals.
To the victors go the spoils as the Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship, a six-team tournament, will be held in Ottawa.
LINK TO RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS
COVO CUP SCORING SUMMARY:
McGill 57, Harvard 0
(at Percival Molson Stadium, Oct. 19, 2024)
FIRST HALF:
SECOND HALF:
McGill Redbirds Official Dress-list
| No. |
FIRST NAME |
LAST NAME |
HOMETOWN |
PROV |
| 1 |
Anderson |
Recker |
Halifax |
NS |
| 2 |
Evan |
Tennant |
Kirkland |
QC |
| 3 |
Neos |
Dionisopoulos |
Westmount |
QC |
| 4 |
William |
Simpson |
London |
(ENGLAND) |
| 5 |
Jack |
Kelly |
Toronto |
ON |
| 6 |
Dylan |
Sherwood |
Vancouver |
BC |
| 7 |
Alexandre |
Carmel |
Montreal |
QC |
| 8 |
Matthew |
Corkum |
London |
(ENGLAND) |
| 9 |
Nicolas |
Vicente-Louis |
London |
(ENGLAND) |
| 10 |
Raphael |
Seigner |
Marlow |
(ENGLAND) |
| 11 |
Roberto |
Frascione |
Montreal |
QC |
| 12 |
Harry |
Corkum |
London |
(ENGLAND) |
| 13 |
James |
Mason |
Paris |
(FRANCE) |
| 14 |
Dominic |
Russell |
Chichester |
(ENGLAND) |
| 15 |
Martin |
Laval |
Hong Kong |
(CHINA) |
| 16 |
Philippe |
Haddad |
Toronto |
ON |
| 17 |
Tarabh |
Nolan |
Toronto |
ON |
| 18 |
Alexander |
Bomersback |
Kirkland |
QC |
| 19 |
Adan |
Virani |
London |
(ENGLAND) |
| 20 |
John ("Casey") |
Feehan |
Cambridge |
(ENGLAND) |
| 21 |
Alexander |
Armstrong |
Hadlow |
(ENGLAND) |
| 22 |
Alexandre |
Laurendeau |
Ormstown |
QC |
| 23 |
Ryan |
Yuen |
Calgary |
AB |
| 25 |
Damon |
Scharfe |
Vancouver |
BC |
| 24 |
Nicolas |
Tissier |
Oakville |
ON |
| 26 |
Max |
Bernhart |
Paris |
(FRANCE) |
Head Coach: Ian
Baillie
Asst. Coach: Christopher
Cesari
Asst. Coach: Mathieu
Garston
Asst. Coach: Greg
Gallant
Harvard Crimson Official Dress-list
| No. |
FIRST NAME |
LAST NAME |
HOMETOWN |
| 1 |
Josh |
Mao |
Victoria, BC, Canada |
| 2 |
Landon |
Elks |
Greenville, NC, USA |
| 3 |
Patrick |
Toomey |
Zionsville, PA, USA |
| 4 |
Richard |
Dong |
Pasadena, CA, USA |
| 5 |
Tom |
Nelligan |
Dolores, CO, USA |
| 6 |
Robbie |
Owen |
London, UK |
| 7 |
Callum |
Taylor |
Sydney, Australia |
| 8 |
Alex |
Casey |
Limerick, Ireland |
| 9 |
Walter |
Woo |
Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| 10 |
Joseph |
Hoche |
Paris, France |
| 11 |
Matt |
Hallman |
Allenhurst, NJ, USA |
| 12 |
Xavier |
Orler |
Geneva, Switzerland |
| 13 |
Josh |
Young |
Bethlehem, PA, USA |
| 14 |
Rick |
Li |
Boston, MA, USA |
| 15 |
Andrew |
Spielmann |
London, UK |
| 20 |
Austin |
Lawrence |
San Diego, CA, USA |
| 21 |
Adrian |
Guzman |
Cicero, IL, USA |
| 22 |
Brad |
Shearer |
Christchurch, NZ |
Co-coach: Dan
Stone
Co-coach: Justin
Johnson
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
2020: (no game due to COVID pandemic)
2021: (no game due to COVID pandemic)
2022: (no game)
2023: (no game)
2024: (no game)
2024: McGill won 57-0
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL:
514-983-7012
E-MAIL:
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
