Redmen ruggers score 40 unanswered points, smother Sherbrooke in semifinal
(Nicolas Lefrancois-Santo tallied two tries in playoff win over Sherbrooke. photo by Derek Drummond)
MONTREAL - Gideon Balloch of Ottawa, scored 13 points and Nicolas Lefrancois-Santo of St. Lambert, Que., added 10 points on a pair of tries as McGill smothered Sherbrooke 43-5 in a RSEQ university men's rugby semifinal playoff at Molson Stadium, Friday.
The Redmen improved their lifetime record against Sherbrooke to 34-1 overall and it was the ninth straight victory for McGill, the division champs, who will now host Concordia in the league championship game on Sunday, Nov. 6. The Stingers, who finished third, advanced after upsetting second-place Bishop's 13-10 at Coulter Field in Lennoxville, Que.
The Redmen also got tries from Keelan Chapman from Beijing, Joshua Blair of Franklin Centre, Que., Devon Howard of Toronto and Quentin Pradere, a native of London, England.
McGill took an early 3-0 lead on a penalty goal by Balloch but fell behind 5-3 after a try by Louis-Philippe Dauphin of Joliette, Que., in the seventh minute of play. The Redmen then scored 40 unanswered points en route to their 25th straight win over the Vert & Or.
Despite the lopsided score, McGill struggled in the opening half and took a slim 10-5 lead into the intermission.
"We had trouble retaining possession because of handling errors and lack of physicality around the breakdown," said Balloch, who added five conversions. "But we rebounded after a powerful run by Keelan Chapman to touch down to put us ahead 10-5 and came out in the second half with renewed energy and creativity.
"We had two sparkplugs who ignited us today -- Nic Santo came off the bench and stunned Sherbrooke with two dashing tries and (my twin brother) Joshua orchestrated a second-half rampage with his creative play-making and precise kicking game. He assisted on two tries, and organized us as we left a sub-par first half to score five tries in the second half."
SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST HALF:
1. McGill: Gideon Balloch PENALTY GOAL, 5:00 (McGill 3-0)
2. Sherbrooke: Louis-Philippe Dauphin TRY (conversion missed), 7:00 (Sherbrooke 5-3)
3. McGill: Keelan Chapman (conversion by Gideon Balloch), 15:00 (McGill 10-5)
SECOND HALF:
4. McGill: Quentin Pradere TRY (conversion missed), 55:00 (McGill 15-5)
5. McGill: Nicolas Lefrancois-Santo TRY (conversion by Gideon Balloch), 50:00 (McGill 22-5)
6. McGill: Nicolas Lefrancois-Santo TRY (conversion by Gideon Balloch), 60:00 (McGill 29-5)
7. McGill: Joshua Blair TRY (conversion by Gideon Balloch), 72:00 (McGill 36-5)
8. McGill: Devon Howard TRY (conversion by Gideon Balloch), 80:00 (McGill 43-5)
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012
| NAME | TEAM | TRIES | Converts | Drop Goals |
Pen.Goals | PTS |
| Balloch, Gideon | McGill | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| Lefrançois-Santo, Nicolas | McGill | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Blair, Joshua | McGill | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Chapman, Keelan | McGill | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Howard, Devon | McGill | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Pradere, Quentin | McGill | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Albers, Stephen | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Balloch, Joshua | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ben-Shach, Nitai | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bourdeau, Michael | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carvalho-Campos, Ian | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlton, Nicolas | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clarke, Trevor | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Friesen, Trevor | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gallacher, Colin | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kirkman-Gagnon, Thomas | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lee, Jong-Wook | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Levin, Daniel | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mackenzie, Roderick | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Minz, Jonathan | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Perrin, Cameron | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Skulsky, Sam | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stephens, Andrew | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sunell, Alexander | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Webster, Marc | McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nom | Équipe | Essai | Converti | Drop | Pénalité | PTS |
| Dauphin, Louis-Philippe | Sherbrooke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Arguin, Gabriel | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chiasson, Nicola | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cochet, Antoine | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Coulombe, Patrice | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dodde, Alexandre | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dumas, Mathieu | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Duquette, Ludovic | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fabi-Tétrault, Cédric | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Floquet, Jimmy | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grondin, Sébastien | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jobin, Olivier | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Karahasanovic, Adnan | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lescal, Damien | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lespérance, Mathieu | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Maignan, Simon | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mailhot, Yanick | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Moronvalle, Quentin | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Picard, Émile | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rainville, Julien | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Roy, Olivier | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Samoisette-Fournier, Georges | Sherbrooke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |