In a hard-fought game Friday night at PEPS in front of another good crowd, Laval University’s Rouge et Or secured their ticket to the final of the Canadian Rugby Championship with a 10-8 win over the Gaels of Queen’s.
In the Canadian final on Sunday at 3 p.m., the Rouge et Or will face the Victoria Vikes, who defeated the Guelph Gryphons 16-0. Ranked eighth and last nationally, the Vikes pulled off an upset by defeating the Ottawa Gee Gees, the early favorites, in the first game. Laval will try to achieve its first double since the Lethbridge Pronghorns won gold from 2007-09.
In front of a crowd of 1,212 fans compared to 3,577 on Wednesday, in Wednesday’s 7-5 win over the UBC Thunderbirds, the Rouge et Or led 10-0 after 39 minutes, but the Gaels never gave up to cut the deficit to two to reduce points, but the defense held on and secured the win.
“We’ve been talking about the Canadian championship at home for a year and I can’t wait for the final,” said head coach François Vachon-Marceau. After losing in the RSEQ final, the girls never stopped believing, even though we started out against the two best teams on paper. There were fewer people there than on Wednesday, but the noise and the crowd helped us.”
The Rouge et Or saved the day twice at the end of the game while the Gaels seriously threatened. “The girls were brave defensively and persevered,” praised Vachon-Marceau. It’s been four years since we played Queen’s in the Canadian Championship and they’re always close games.”
Laval defeated Queen’s in the final last year, as they did in 2019, and lost in the semifinals on the Gaels’ home field in 2021. Laval reached the Canadian final for the third time in the last four years.
“It was time for it to stop”
Corinne Fréchette, the outstanding player of the Rouge et Or team, was in great demand. “It was time for it to stop,” she admitted. It’s always big battles against Queen’s but we kept our heads together as they came back from behind. It’s a physical battle, but even more so a mental battle, and we didn’t break. We took fewer risks to ensure good game management.”
“Our loss to Ottawa in the RSEQ final was a good thing,” added Fréchette, who was selected to the first all-Canadian team. The defeat got us back on track. We realized that we are not perfect and we make mistakes.”
Just one try for the Rouge et Or
The Rouge et Or led 3-0 after one half thanks to a penalty from Audrey Champagne and increased the score to 10-0 thanks to a try from Maude Chabot, followed by a converted kick from Champagne at the start of the second half.
“I am happy and proud to have helped the team, but our strength is that we play as a team,” said Chabot. We owe our victory to the people who never stopped encouraging us. There were fewer young people from Victoriaville at our second game, but my brother told me that some young girls who were there on Wednesday wanted to play rugby. That is a victory in itself. It would mean a lot if we could do the double at home.”
Victoria reaches the Canadian final for the first time in its history and will look to win a first medal. His best result is 4th place. Laval defeated the Vikes in the bronze medal game in 2021.