Men's Recap

End of Season 2008
by Rob Grodinsky

The first half of the summer was highlighted by standout performances by some new rookies from Brebeuf, Marianopolis, Dawson and Concordia. Courtney, Jean-Marc, Philippe, Boudreau, Pickering, Levan, Akira and Louis, among many others, showed us that TMR will be a force in the years to come.
 
The season started off with a bang as the boys pulled in 6 big wins in a row. The 7th game would be a turning point in the season as TMR was outplayed on a wet, rainy day in Ste-Anne's.

The 2nd XV struggled a bit in the first half of the summer, but showed their promise with a big win over the Wanderers, who are one of the strongest teams in the Reserve division.
 
TMR would get its revenge against Ste-Anne's in front of a large home crowd in late September. In what was probably one of the fastest, hardest and most entertaining games of rugby I've seen in my years on the pitch, the Town defeated Ste-Anne 19-17 to end the season and secured a 3rd place finish with a 10-4 record.
 
The seconds finished the season in 6th place and a record of 5-8-1. The return of some vets in Khal and Alex brought some much needed experience to our young pack as they pulled out a few more wins in the second half of the season.
 
Heading into the playoffs on a high note, the 1st XV faced the Wanderers at home while the 2nd XV were away against the Barbs. But the day was not ours as both teams lost in the quarter finals to some well-prepared competition, putting an end to what was a fun season on the field.
 
Let's get everyone out to the Captain's Dinner to celebrate a great season!

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19 juillet 2008
TMR 2nds vs Beaconsfield:

Recap by Jean-Edouard

1h40 kick off par Beaconsfield, bon retour par TMR jusqu'au centre, jusqu'au knock on. Le jeu se déroulait pas mal seulement dans la zone du centre, jusqu'a ce qu'un beau line out envoie la balle wide jusqu'à Steve qui en plus d'une belle course s'est permis un beau kick au-dessus du full back, qui a passé très proche d'un try jusqu'a la perte de possession a leur ligne de 2 verges. Le jeu se déroule au centre depuis. Après un line out sloppy de TMR, en plus d'une pénalité, nous nous retrouvons derrière notre 22. Leur line out est par contre passe trop haut et a permis à Paul de dégagé le territoire d'un beau kick jusqu'à la ligne de centre. Mais quelque minutes plus tard âpres quelques bons recyclage de balles, Beaconsfield se retrouve a nos porte, et score, le try ne sera pas converti.

Le jeu se déroule sous une faible pluie depuis 5-10 minutes. Le soleil est toujours présent, l'atmosphère est agréable pour une partie de rugby. Le kick off se retrouve straight out et mène donc a un scrum au centre. Beaconsfield joue un style de rugby assez violent qui a l'air de déstabilise les townies. Le jeu se déroule de plus en plus dans la zone de Beaconsfield depuis que les townies payent le prix. Un beau scrum de TMR à leur ligne de 5, mènera à une passe flottante du scrum half au fly half, qui verra son kick bloqué par TMR. Alec a saute sur le ballon pour le try qui sera converti. 7-5 TMR.

Le momentum a change de bord depuis, après plusieurs minutes dans notre territoire, Beaconsfield ont l'air minder pour scorer. Sur la prochaine séquence, TMR à raté 3 plaqués pour les laisser entrer facilement dans notre zone. La conversion sera par la suite ratée. Après quelques minutes sans coup d'éclat, Akira a couru au moins 50 verges en évitant 3-4 plaqués, Town aura l'occasion de réinscrire des points avec un kick de pénalité qui sera par contre raté. Le momentum revient du côté de TMR qui passe plusieurs minutes dans le territoire de Beaconsfield avant la fin de la demie. 10-7 Beaconsfield.

2e demie: Le soleil plombe, les nuages ont disparu, kick off par TMR, Beaconsfield nous rend le ballon quelques secondes plus tard. La balle aux arrières après le line out mène à une belle course combinée de Louis et Steve qui va en somme nous garder au fond de leur territoire. Fitness joue une belle gamme jusqu'a maintenant et fait une autre petite percée. Beaucoup de chamaillage sur leur ligne de touche mais l’entêtement de TMR à vouloir passe à travers le roc ramènera TMR près de sa ligne de 22. Repris par Akira qui prend de la vitesse et produit toute une course en contournant plus d'une demi-douzaine d’adversaires, la balle sera tip vers l’avant enlevant le lustre de cette belle course. Le jeu revient se dérouler au centre quelques minutes. Louis a essayé une belle interception qui aurait mené à un try mais Il a malheureusement knock la balle. Beaconsfield a ensuite l'occasion d'ajouter à leur avance avec un kick de pénalité mais Il sera short. Beaconsfield passe quelques temps proche de notre zone et un beau plaqué de Dave sur la ligne de cote va nous sauver d'un try. Après d'autres poussées et un scrum à la ligne de 5, Beaconsfield scorera un autre try et la conversion sera réussie cette fois. 17-7 Beaconsfield. Beau kick off récupéré par Steve pour nous redonner tout de suite le ballon, mais un mauvais roc leur rendront le ballons qu’ils perdront en knock on après un beau plaqué d'Akira. Le jeu est partagé entre les 2 équipes qui s'échangent des percées et plaqués. TMR se défend plus ou moins solidement dans le fond de leur zone, et une autre substitution subvient pour essayer de fouetter l'équipe. Notre scrum sur notre ligne de 5, tentative de kick de Glen bloquée, line out Town. Le jeu continue de se dérouler dans la zone de TMR. Les Townies se fâchent assez facilement et perdent leur concentration, ils ont besoin d'une étincelle... Surtout parce que Beaconsfield ne ralentie pas la cadence, le jeu reste dans notre zone. Steve tackle tout le monde pour la moitié de l'équipe mais ses efforts ne suffisent pas à contrer le prochain try de Beaconsfield et leur conversion sera réussie. 24-7, 5 minutes restantes. Beaux effort combinés de Steve et Akira pour remonter le ballon dans la zone adverse. Line out à 10 verges de la ligne de Beaconsfield, une chance sur laquelle TMR devrait sauter, mais le jeu reviens proche du centre. Course superbe d'Akira et après quelques petites passes. Le ballon fini dans les mains d'Alec qui finira la partie en payant le prix pour la mettre dedans. La conversion est dure et passera proche d'être réussie. Trop peu trop tard, après du jeu intense en première demi, et beaucoup de belle percée, TMR s'incline 24-12.

1:30 pm dans Beaconsfield
Tries: Alec, Steve
Man of the Match: Akira

July 12 2008
Four in a row Les boys, we’re on a roll.

The Barbs have been on top of the league since before most of us even knew what rugby was. Somehow we always manage to face them in the semi-finals in September and they always come out on top. But last Saturday we showed them why we’re the new team to beat.

We’ve got individual talent in guys like Alun, Courtney and Macleod scoring tries and making outrageous tackles, but we’re winning because we think, practice and play as a team.

Right from the kickoff, Frankie and Wadsworth led a maul down the field and we scored a try within the first 5 minutes. The first half of the game was dominated by our pack, who easily stopped the Barbs’ only weapon of trailing off the fringe. Appearing in his first game of the season was Glen “G-spot” Imperial who had a great first start at halfback, communicating with the forwards and giving Adam ball like he’d been doing it all year. And adding a try for good measure.

With Adam and Glen connecting well, our backs were quick to spin the ball wide and continued to do so all day as the Barbs’ backs couldn’t contain our back three of Courtney, Shaggy and rookie Jean Marc, playing in his first premier game. Jean Marc showed he could hold his own and used his speed running down the sidelines.

At half we were up by 5 tries and it looked like we had this game all but sealed up. Somehow though, we all began to unravel. The Barbs had some momentum going and now their fringe work was somehow gaining them yards. Even though we were much fitter, we were getting beat out in the rucks and losing our grit in the tackles. The Barbs suddenly were back in the game when their Caribou forward went blind and took advantage of some shoddy tackling from Adam and Grody to score a try in the corner. Then about 5 minutes later the Barbs drove us back on our own 5 meters for a pushover try. We were now up 5 tries to 2 and the momentum was switching.

We regained our composure for the last 20 minutes. A few fresh subs and some much needed intensity coming from the most likely candidates, Alun and Wadsworth, and the ball started rolling. Macleod struck next as he picked up a loose ball bouncing off someone’s head and scored a try. Next Shaggy waltzed through the defence and score his second of the day.

There was some good stuff and some bad stuff but all said and done, we came away with a lopsided win, a bonus point and we’re still at the head of the standings. We took probably half the penalties we did last week, but we still have to improve in that department. We took about 3 times as many penalties as they did in those 20 shitty minutes.

Next week we play in Beaconsfield against what’s rumoured to be a strong pack and a tougher game than anyone in the league expected so far. Keep it up TMR!

• Le premier essai de Philippe. Le premier et certainement pas le dernier
  
• The forwards on a 30+ yard maul in the first 5 minutes of the game resulting in a try
  
• Courtney filling in for Alun on a drop goal attempt
  
• Courtney scoring a try identical to the one against the Wanderers and not waiting for the cameras to take his picture.
  

• “All 22 of us for being whiny bitches on the field” - Frankie Spera

TMR 41 - Barbs 12

Tries: Courtney, Macleod, Shaggy (2), Wadsworth, Philippe, Glen,
Man of the match: Macleod

July 05 2008
TMR Streak Continues

Starting the season off with two wins, TMR played the WAnderers in a battle for first place last Saturday. We had two great additions to an already talented line-up with lock Mailin Jordan and rookie fullback Courtney Bishop. The game started off well for TMR when Courtney scored his first try for the town after only about 15 minutes of putting on his jersey for the first time. Did somebody say Chip Drury?

The forwards on both teams played well in the first half but TMR’s energy and aggressiveness was not to be messed with. Mike Wadsworth kept a ball in play from a penalty and the town came back on attack. Shaggy quickly ran another try off of a grubber kick from Courtney and the town was now ahead by two tries.

The Wanderers came back hard though and we were forced to spend a lot of time on defence making tackles. The Wanderers were gaining ground off of hard running from their #7 and came within the try zone. But a tremendous effort by Yacine to stuff him on the goal line kept us the lead.

The last 10 minutes of the first half were beginning to look a bit sloppy and we also lost our inside center Steve McNeill to an injury. Alun Phillips tried to put us up with a drop goal attempt but came just wide of the posts. For a guy who has 32 years of rugby experience, Alun is not afraid to add drop goals to his repertoire for 3 games in a row… but not quite there yet.

Still TMR went into the half up by 3 points 12-9.

Penalty trouble cost us as we took literally hundreds of yards worth of penalties in the first half and gave up 3 kicks to the Wanderers for 9 points. The fact is as a team, we need to think with more discipline. We would have had control of this game much earlier on if we had taken fewer penalties.

After a delay and a shiny new whistle, we received the ball off the kickoff to start the second half.

The 10, 12 and 13 combo of Adam, Phillipe and Grody did well to contain the Wanderers’ big crashing centers. But the Wanderers shifty fly half took advantage of the gap inside the 10 and made several breaks down the field, one of which resulted in a try. The Wanderers regained the lead with about 25 minutes left to go.

The next 25 minutes was exciting rugby as TMR fought to get back on top. Both TMR and the Wanderers showed their skill and endurance straight till the end.

Bobby and Shaggy each came close to the try line but couldn’t put it down in the corner. With about 12 minutes left and a scrum on their 5 yard line, our backs sealed the game when Courtney scored a try by running through their centers and then waiting.. waiting … and waiting…. I think he must have been waiting for the TSN cameras to take his picture, but to Courtney’s surprise, there were none in Ste-Julie! Finally, he put down the ball between the posts to score the try and win us the game.

Hard work at practice is paying off because we’re undefeated against 3 hard oppositions. Let’s keep it up this week and keep the momentum going for the Barbs this Saturday.

TMR 19 - Wanderers 12

4:30 pm in Ste-Julie
Tries: Courtney (2), Shaggy
Man of the Match: Courtney Bishop

Women's Recaps

June 27, 2009
 by Rupal Patel

TMR II vs. St Lambert Locks          
 
            TMR started the game with great intensity and managed to score a try, but this pace was difficult to maintain and it was not long before the Locks pushed back and made a try themselves.  TMR kicked for points forming a narrow lead.  Although St Lambert had strong forwards, they were no match for TMR’s quick backs who flew past them on several occasions.  Melissa “deke queen” Gagnon made a stunning debut by skilfully running through the opposition and then passing the ball off to Emma Gaudet-Reichelson.  After the Locks scored their second try, TMR turned on and played with great heart until the final whistle.                
 
TMR II 13 – St Lambert 12
Tries for TMR: Emma Gaudet-Reichelson, Robin Hunter

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June 6, 2009
 by Rupal Patel

TMR II vs. Rive Sud
 
            Both women’s teams went to St Julie promising a double win, and the B team did not disappoint.  The game began with TMR hitting Rive Sud hard and with great intensity.  As soon as the first scrum for the opposition was called, Rupal “that was for me, right?” Patel stole the ball from Rive Sud and consistently kept it away from them in the scrums for at least 40 minutes.  Not long after, TMR’s zeal paid off with the first try made by Maria Bernier.  A hard run was made by Shannon “Cannonball” Pine when she smashed through Rive Sud’s defensive line.  In the first half, Rive Sud pushed TMR back and nearly made tries but their attempts were brutally thwarted by the Town.  In the second half, Amy “Made of Steel” Buckland subbed in and toppled the opposition like dominos when they tried to push her back.  In the end however, Rive Sud managed to make two tries before the end of the game.  Both Amy “Roadrunner” Qi and Jill Quenneville made awesome runs through the opposition to score tries-twice each.                              
 
TMR II 32 – Rive-Sud 14

Tries TMR: Maria Bernier, Amy Qi(2), Jill Quenneville (2), Adara Borys
Conversion : Kyla Demers (1)  

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May 30, 2009
 by Rupal Patel

TMRII vs. Laval Nomads
 
            TMR set the pace of the game immediately by continuously pushing the Nomads back into their zone.  However, a series of infringements throughout the game led to the referee awarding scrums to the Nomads on several occasions making the game truly demanding for the forwards.  The scrums frequently collapsed and TMR was often pushed back by the Nomad women.  That said, TMR had little opposition in the rucks.  Conversely, the backs worked just as hard by scoring several tries against the home team and blasting through them.  Tommias “appears at the try line leaving a trail of smoke” French and Emma “they won’t know what hit them” Gaudet-Reichelson both scored twice.  Some fantastic runs were made by Ciara Briscoe and Cindy “faster than her shadow” Lafontaine.  TMR also welcomed two new additions to the team: Anika Leclerc and Michele Pineau played in the second half and demonstrated a great start to the season.         
 
TMRII 56 – Laval 0
Tries for TMR: Tommias French (2), Emma Gaudet-Reichelson (2), Adara Borys, Kyla Demers, Cindy Lafontaine, Lana Burton, Ciara Briscoe, Amy Qi
Conversions: Adara Borys (3)

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May 16th, 2009

TMRI 17 - Quebec 23
Tries for TMR: Cindy Lafontaine, Amy Qi, Brianna Gibson
Conversions: Julianne Zussman (1)
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May 16th, 2009

TMRII vs. Sherbrooke Abenakis

The game started beautifully with great weather and a strong performance from TMR despite being short two players.  The intensity paid off as within the first half minutes, Maria “I can teleport to wherever you need me” Bernier scored a try.  However, Abenakis took advantage of TMR’s missing backs by kicking the ball as far back and as often as they could really pushing TMR’s fitness.  Fortunately, Emma Gaudet Reichelson and Sarah “Speedy Gonzales” Robert were on that ball and making some awesome runs against Abenakis.  In the second half, the weather took a turn for the worse making both teams fumble with the wet ball.  Abenakis made a try and successful conversion as TMR tried to maintain its initial intensity.  TMR’s lineouts were excellent with Erica “watch me steal your ball” Shadeed jumping and Jessica “no one gets past me” Jean-Pearson throwing.  Shortly after, TMR charged into Sherbrooke’s try zone and Amy Buckland scored.  As Abekanis were once again pushing TMR back, they successfully kicked for points placing them in the lead.  In the last minutes of the game, TMR pushed hard for a winning try, but after Abenakis kicked the ball out, the latter managed to get to it and score the final try just before the last whistle.
 

TMRII 10 - Sherbrooke 15
Tries for TMR: Maria Bernier, Amy Buckland

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April 25th, 2009

The TMR women headed to Ormstown on a beautiful Spring day to play some 7s and work on their sun tans.
Faced with an easy start against an inexperienced Ormstown team rest was in order for the big match against the CRQ.  With a quick start and two quick tries against, the Townies were pinned in their end and could not relieve the pressure.  The loss emant that they would be playing in the Plate Final against SAB with a newly assembled team with newly arrived payers we took to the field and held our own in the first half.  A tactical substitution of 7s specialists MJ Blais and Julianne Zussman at half time added the much needed fire power to increase our lead by three tries to seal the victory.

All in a ll a great day with lots of fun and sun, can't wait until next year!

Jocelyn Barrieau

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End of Season 2008
by Cathy Nichols

The 2008 season for the Townie Women wasn't one of its easiest.  The division A women started off slow, getting accustomed to new players in new positions, and although the beginning of the season was tough, they came together at the end of the season with a great win to the Irish and competitive game against the Barbs.   

Division B, a solid and cohesive group, played well together all season with many close and exciting games.  Their season ended in a semi-final to Quebec City, where all the players showed lots of heart.  Win or lose, the town had tons of fun with their new coaching staff, their countless nights at Ye Olde (including dress night!), and the endless heat-wave Canada Day practice!

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End of Seaon 
by Mitch François

Sans aucun doute, cela a été une saison de reconstruction pour nous. En effet, nous avions perdu les services de plusieurs joueuses d'expérience au cours de l'hiver dernier et cela a forcé nos jeunes joueuses à faire face à des situations auxquelles elles étaient peu habituées. Je crois que nous sommes sortis grandis de l'expérience et même s'il reste beaucoup de travail à faire, nos équipes seront prêtes à relever le défi et challenger pour un championnat.

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July 12 2008
TMR vs The Barbs

The TMR women prems took to the field in their all too short campaign of 2008 this past Saturday. Peppered with a line-up of veterans, rookies and a few in between we faced the Barbs at the Rec Center. A quick warm-up and a warm day at hand saw us onto the pitch.

A heads-up play from a penalty saw some inspired brilliant open play from almost the entire team and while I would like to give credit to the last pair of hands that touched it down, the actual scorer actually escapes me because of how well worked it was.

The score was 12-5 as we headed into the break. A switch of ends was just what the doctor ordered as we really turned up the pressure in the second half springing our wingers and fullback on multiplae occasions.

A well-worked intense march down the field was awarded to the Town as Lucy "try-line" Tran punched it over after floating through the hands of Leigh "all over the field" Garland and Sarah "I really click in the front row" Scanlon.

Another 5 points was awarded to the Town as disciplined rugby gave us the opportunity to score only 5 meters out from their goal line. Maria "thanks to your parents; turned 18 in June" Bernier added a nother 5 points after a well executed penalty play.

The final score had the Town on the losing side 19-15 but that really was not the main headline of the day. Faced with older, more experience opposition for the most part the Town held their own and then some. And next year will in fact be challenging for a playoff spot!

A rough ending for some Townies as Cathy Nichols and Jen Rosenbaum both spent some time in the hospital on Saturday evening. Thank you for sacrificing your bodies for the rest of us, happy recovery:)

A welcome back to MJ "what knee?" Blais who is back from injury and made a direct impact with her first touch of the ball.

July 05 2008
TMR in the Capital

We did however manage to bring along one fan: Jess Tomalty's boyfriend making the trip all the way from England. Unfortunately the performance wasn't what we hoped it to be, and we lost 53-5 to a strong Quebec side.

There were penetrating runs on both sides, but Quebec had the depth and power to finish on a number of occasions, while the Town only managed to touch it down once. The Townies showed great resilience, however, and held their own against a very physical team, both in the forwards and the backs.

This experience is arguably one of the reasons why we came out so strong against Ormstown's forward-oriented attack on Thursday.... more details on that game to come...

TMR 5 - Quebec 53

June 21st 2008
TMRII Scrap it out with Sherbrooke

This weekend the TMR Women's 2nds team played against Sherbrooke. Shitty field, shitty team, shitty game. We were shit.

The first half of the game remained in our own end, while the second half of the game was played in Sherbrooke's end.

Line-outs were definitely a weakness of Sherbrooke's as Davina "I own the back of line-outs" (last name here) received every line-out ball from over their heads and stormed through the line of defense. Even their secret weapon play off of a line out, code named "Quatre", didn't fool us mighty townies, as Jill "Captain Obvious" Quenneville exclaimed, "Okay girls, we all know what quatre means!" Turns out their line-out of four players didn't have what it takes to out play our own four. " Ms. Quenneville later went on a crazy run down the sideline, cutting back in to the middle of the field, only to end up just short of a try.

All our scrums were wheeled, and then collapsed, and then wheeled, and then collapsed again, and we just weren't quick enough to recover the ball from the back of the scrum and get it out to our backs, who had trouble running plays through the mud. However Laura "Ps. I'm gonna kick your ass, don't try and pass me" Stewart laid the smackdown on many of the Sherbrooke players, leaving them exasperated for tries that were not even within reach.

Although the majority of the game remained 0 - 0, Sherbrooke came out on top after kicking for points twice off of a penalty, ending the game with a 6 – 0 loss for TMR.