The Dalhousie Tigers Men’s Rugby team defeated the Acadia Axemen at Wanderers last Saturday to finish their season 5-0 at the top of the Atlantic Canada standings.
Coaching staff wanted to set the standard high for this game, as it was a warm up for the playoffs. Head coach Matthew Gibbon said, “No taking any plays off and hard hitting all game are what we’ve been talking about all week. And it’s time to put up.”
Because the team won most of the scrums and were strong in the rucks, they were able to hold on to top spot in the eastern standings.
In the beginning the Tigers were given a scare when the first pass was a knock-on.
“We beat ourselves in the first five minutes sometimes,” said captain of the team, eight-man Sam Silbergeld.
Dropped balls and knock-ons were a big reason why the Dal squad couldn’t score any tries early on in the first half.
Though they started off slow, the Tigers were able to seize the opportunities that they were presented with. Early on, an exciting treat for the fans was displayed as a squib kick was attempted and completed to make the score 3-0.
When Acadia had a scrum down, the ball got lost in the forwards’ feet and their scrum half missed and that was the perfect opportunity for Tim Loney to pick it up and started the march forward towards a try.
The second half went smoothly and everything was going the Tigers way until Loney started some trouble in the second half as a result of a retaliatory act. He received a red card and will be suspended for two games because of his behavior. This means the Tigers will be without their starting scrum half for the rest of the playoffs.
There is no question where the Dalhousie team is heading going into the playoffs. One player is out, but there are a couple injuries that should be better for the semi finals. Dal is looking to defend their Eastern Canadian title against in a Dalhousie versus McGill rematch.
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