In the early stages of the men’s rugby game between the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo, the Varsity Blues seemed evenly matched with their opponents. Nine minutes into the first half, the Blues stole a scrum at the Waterloo 22 line. A penalty call gave U of T a chance to kick for points, and Blues’ rookie Tudor Chirila converted for an early 3-0 lead. This unfortunately was not to last.
Despite the chants of “Water-losers” coming from members of the Lady Godiva Memorial Band, the Waterloo Warriors responded with four consecutive tries and conversions in the first half, and went to the locker room with a 28-3 lead. The Blues had some trouble with open field tackling in the last 25 minutes of the first half, and Waterloo was able to take advantage with a number of long runs deep into U of T’s end.
The second half didn’t start much better. The Warriors were more aggressive, particularly in the scrum, and the Varsity Blues allowed another three consecutive tries, bringing the score to 49-3. Toronto then scored a late try, the final scoring of the game, bringing the final score to 49-8 for the University of Waterloo Warriors.
U of T players did a good job of gaining possession and working the ball down into the Waterloo half. Unfortunately, they were frequently undone by penalties and miscues. Waterloo’s scrum was dominanting most of the night, and the Warriors took advantage of poor tackling and U of T mistakes to score seven consecutive tries.
With the loss, the men’s rugby team now drops to 0-5, with games still to come against Queen’s University, Wilfred Laurier University, and Brock University. The team plays next at Varsity Centre, October 10 at 7:00 pm, when they’ll look to snap a five-game losing streak and beat the Golden Gaels.
