Three local men’s rugby squads capture semifinals

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

It was noses down to the grindstone for three area provincial men’s rugby clubs last Saturday as spots in championships matches on Oct. 13 in St. Julie were at stake.

For the Ste. Anne’s men’s premier side, a semifinal victory over the St. Lambert Locks at École St. George field in Ste. Anne de Bellevue would have meant a third consecutive trip to the final, and a chance to win the coveted Quebec Cup, something they failed to do during the previous two attempts. It was mission accomplished for head coach Andrew Leroux’s side, who defeated the Locks 33-8. Ste. Anne’s will meet the upstart Montreal Wanderers in the final. “It took a while for the boys to get going,” Leroux said. “The Locks came out and ran the ball against us, moving it wide to their outside backs and we had a little trouble controlling the game’s tempo for the first 40 minutes. But we established some control in the second half and started to show our stuff. It was a good test.”

Aaron Graham led Ste. Anne’s with two tries while Mark Englehart, Tom Suchorski and Sean Pais added singles. Rob Austen had four conversions.

Meanwhile, the Beaconsfield Rugby Club men’s first-division side fell behind 7-0 early in its semifinal match against Sherbrooke at Beaconsfield High School but bounced back to win 31-7 and advance to the final. “Our guys followed the strategy laid out for them,” said Beaconsfield head coach Guillermo Gulli. “Sherbrooke moved the ball with their backs, but we kicked well and put the ball in their field in response. Winning in the final will be very tough, though. We’ll have to continue being super humble and work hard in the next two weeks.”

Phil Dobrosielski scored two tries to lead Beaconsfield who will be looking to capture its second consecutive Des O’Neill Cup.

Finally, the Dollard des Ormeaux-based Montreal Barbarian’s second-division men’s side also qualified to play for the Des O’Neill Cup after they defeated the Laval Nomads 20-19 in a semifinal affair. Tsvetan Petkov, Mark Gunnip and Mike Fiacco each had one try while Fiacco added a conversion for the Barbs, who will meet St. Jean.?