RECAP: Men’s rugby doubles up Carabins

Two second half tries and some stingy defence down the stretch gave the Gee-Gees men's rugby team a clutch 26-12 victory over the Montreal Carabins.

An early second half try from Jamie Armstrong gave the Gee-Gees life, after they stumbled into the interval in a tie, having given up 12 unanswered points.

"In the first half, towards the end, we could not get out of our half," said Armstrong, who accounted for 16 total points. "At halftime, we had a good talk. We weren't playing the way we wanted to, but we weren't yelled at [by the coaches]. We took deep breathes, calmed down and kept the ball in our hands." 

Duncan Hladik and Simba Gumbo had found the end zone in the first half. Hladik plowed in for the score, while Gumbo used his pace down the flank. It was Gumbo's second try in as many games, having sat out last week's match. 

Armstrong's try and an insurance marker from Mateo Crapigna (the first of his career) gave Ottawa a much-needed win.

"We definitely played more defence than we wanted to," said Gee-Gees coach Andrew Armstrong. "With COVID, we don't know what to expect from a lot of the teams. Montreal were stronger than we expected. The second half, our defence was excellent."

Jamie Armstrong also had his strongest kicking day of the second, converting three of the tries. Rookie Yenam Zouzoua was named the MVP of the match.

Ottawa improves to 2-1 on the season, but are in for a tough test next week when they travel to face the undefeated Bishop's Gaiters. Bishop's ended Concordia's three-year long winning streak in RSEQ play last week.