Balloch bolsters rally as Redmen ruggers run rampant, clinch pennant
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(PHOTO OF GIDEON BALLOCH BY GARY RUSH)
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MONTREAL -- Gideon Balloch of Ottawa scored 13 points as the ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ men's rugby team rallied for a 23-6 come-from-behind win at Concordia, Sunday, to close out the regular season with an unblemished 6-0 record.
It marked the sixth consecutive first-place finish for the Redmen, who have now won 36 of their last 38 regular season contests in the Quebec conference, losing only to Concordia last year and to Sherbrooke in 2008.
Concordia took a 6-0 lead on a pair of penalty goals by Adriano D'Angelo in the fifth and eighth minutes, then watched in horror as the Redmen roared back with 23 consecutive points.
Balloch's penalty goal from 20 yards out at the 13-minute mark narrowed the gap to 6-3.
"Overall the story of the first half was that we committed too many penalties and our rucking and physicality was lackluster. But we started the second half with a new wind of energy," said Balloch, a fifth-year senior majoring in mechanical engineering. "Our discipline after the break was much better and we committed significantly fewer penalties."
Balloch connected on a pair of penalty goals from 45 and 30 yards out, in the 47th and 59th minutes, to give the Redmen a 9-6 lead and they never looked back.
±«ÓãÖ±²¥ made it 16-6 in the 62nd minute when Quentin Pradere capped a powerful pick-and-go from five yards out to score a try between posts. Balloch made the conversion.
With a comfortable lead, ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ opted against kicking penalties for goal, instead opting to go for tries by kicking into the corners.
A well-organized maul by the ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ ±«ÓãÖ±²¥s drove an impressive 10 yards, capped by Jon Lee's try and Balloch's conversion in the 72nd minute to round out the scoring.
±«ÓãÖ±²¥ will now host fourth-place Sherbrooke in a sudden-death semifinal on Friday, Oct. 28 at Molson Stadium. A win would put the Redmen in the conference final for the 12th consecutive year and they would be looking for their seventh straight league banner. The Vert & Or haven't beaten ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ since a 25-17 upset on Oct. 26, which snapped a then 19-game win streak for the Redmen.
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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012
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| McGILL | TEAM | TRIES | Converts | Drop | PEN. GOALS |
PTS |
| Balloch, Gideon | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| Lee, Jon | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Pradere, Quentin | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Albers, Stephen | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Balloch, Joshua | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ben-Shach, Nitai | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bourdeau, Michael | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carvalho-Campos, Ian | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chapman, Keelan | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clarke, Trevor | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Friesen, Trevor | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gallacher, Colin | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Howard, Devon | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mackenzie, Roderick | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lefrançois-Santo, Nicolas | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Levin, Daniel | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mckenzie, Connor | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| O'Briain, Liam | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Perrin, Cameron | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Skulsky, Sam | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stephens, Andrew | ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sunell, AlexanderÌý (C) |
±«ÓãÖ±²¥ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| CONCORDIA | ɱç³Ü¾±±è±ð | Essai | Converti | Drop | ±Êé²Ô²¹±ô¾±³Ùé | PTS |
| D'angelo, Adriano | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Ablenas, Daniel | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bang, Jimmy | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Boisgentier, Yann | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Boky, Chris | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cosentino, Alfredo | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Desourdy, Alexandre | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dextras-romagnino, Jonathan | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Drohan, Gavin | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ducray, Eric | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Elliott, Kevin | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Felberbaum, William | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Guillonneau, Pierre | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Huguet, Hyacinthe | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lacroix, Marc-olivier | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mackey, Benoit | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marks-beaubrun, Kevin | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Micheletti, Christopher | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Montealegre, Alec | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| O'hara, Conor | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pellizzari, Dario | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ritchie, Alex | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Slegers, Theo | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Walkden, Philippe | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Walsh-pickering, David | Concordia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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2011 RSEQ RUGBY FINAL STANDINGS
| Classement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| NOTE: Bonus Points are awarded in the standings for scoring four (or more) tries in a game, or by when losing by seven points (or less). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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