Mustangs ruggers nip Redmen by a nose
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LONDON, Ont. Ìý- Andrew Crow, a sophomore from Victoria, B.C., and brother of injured ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ rugby player Alastair Crow, scored a try with seven minutes remaining as the University of Western Ontario Mustangs rallied for a 22-17 hard-fought, see-saw victory over the Redmen in pre-season men's rugby action at TD Waterhouse Stadium, Thursday.
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±«ÓãÖ±²¥, the defending Quebec champions, quickly marched the ball back into Western's end but ran out of time.
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The Mustangs, who finished third in the Ontario conference last year, had opened the scoring some 10 minutes into the match when inside centre Carl Stahlbrand broke through the defensive line to score an unconverted try for a 5-0 lead.
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±«ÓãÖ±²¥ countered at the 20-minute mark with a penalty kick by sophomore Gideon Balloch of Ottawa, to narrow the margin to 5-3. But the Mustangs bounced right back and took a 10-3 advantage, capitalizing on an overlap with winger Michael Meschino receiving the ball along the sideline and running in for the score.
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±«ÓãÖ±²¥ tied the contest at 10-10 when Mike Davis, a third-year winger from Mississauga, Ont., made a great defensive play, stopping a UWO player, then picking up the loose ball and countering with a 30-yard run. He broke a tackle and won a foot race for the try, which was converted by Balloch
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Western exploited another overlap at about the 45-minute mark to take a 15-10 lead but ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ rallied again after dominated much of the play in the second half. The Redmen went ahead 17-15 at the 62-minute mark after marching the ball down to the try line and scoring on a great individual effort by Mathieu Sidoti. The third-year fly-half from Beijing, muscled the ball into the try zone and Balloch made a tough conversion from the sideline.
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±«ÓãÖ±²¥ (0-1) now heads south of the border and will play Boston College and Dartmouth College, the defending Ivy League champions, in Hanover, N.H., Sept. 5-6, before returning home to open defence of their Quebec title in Sherbrooke on Sept. 13.
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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Athletics & Recreation