Laval leads lads as rugby Redbirds clobber Concordia to capture Hardy Cup rivalry game

MONTREAL – Martin Laval of Biarritz, Que., scored 15 points and sparked McGill to a resounding 30-10 victory over Concordia in the men’s rugby regular season opener before a spirited, rain-soaked crowd of 1,127 at Percival Molson Stadium, Saturday, to capture the fifth Dave Hardy Cup rivalry game.
 
It was a second straight conquest over Concordia for the Redbirds, who had dropped the previous nine meetings with their cross-town rivals. Both of the McGill wins were in Hardy Cup play after dropping the first three Cup confrontations to Concordia. The event is named after Dave Hardy, who coached at both institutions. He served as bench boss at McGill from 1982 to 1989 and later served as an assistant coach at Concordia.
 
Laval, a 24-year-old master’s student in management retailing, was a one-man wrecking crew for the Redbirds. The senior 5-foot-11, 182-pound fullback was perfect on all three of his penalty kick attempts and converted all three tries made by McGill.
 
The home side jumped into an early 7-0 lead and took a lopsided 20-3 advantage into halftime, then won the second half by a 10-5 margin.
 
The first McGill try was tallied by Anderson Recker (28′) – a first-year MBA student from Halifax who graduated last spring from Acadia University. The other try was scored by veteran Neos Dionisopoulos (38′) ) a native of Westmount, Que., who graduated in 2023 and returned to study dentistry.
 
Teammate Will Simpson, a history junior from the U.K., who closed out the McGill scoring in the 74th minute with a try that put the Redbirds ahead 30-3.
 
Concordia’s Nicholas Gagnon narrowed the early deficit to 6-3 with a penalty kick in the ninth minute of play. The Stingers were then kept off the scoresheet until the final moment of the game when Cameron Harte tallied a try, converted by Philip Hacala.
 
 McGill (1-0) will now prepare to make a short jaunt around Mt. Royal to take on the Montreal Carabins (9-0) on Friday the 13th with an 8:30 p.m. kickoff at UdeM’s Terrain Vincent d’Indy.
 
Concordia (0-1) will host Ottawa (1-0) on Sept. 15 at 3 p.m. The Gee-Gees are the defending RSEQ conference champions after posting a 4-2 second-place record last season and upsetting undefeated ETS 18-17 in the league championship game.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 30, Concordia 10
 
(5th Dave Hardy Cup Game; at Percival Molson Stadium, Sept. 7/24)
 
First Half:

1. McG: Martin Laval: (PENALTY KICK), 1′ (McGill leads 3-0)
2. McG: Martin Laval: (PENALTY KICK), 7′ (McGill leads 6-0)
3. CON: Nicholas Gagnon: (PENALTY KICK), 9′ (McGill leads 6-3)
4. McG: Anderson Recker: (TRY, converted by Martin Laval), 28′ (McGill leads 13-3)
5. McG: Neos Dionisopoulos: (TRY, converted by Martin Laval), 38′ (McGill leads 20-3)

Second Half

1. McG: Martin Laval: (PENALTY KICK), 58′ (McGill leads 23-3)
2. McG: William Simpson: (TRY, converted by Martin Laval), 74′ (McGill leads 30-3)
3. Con: Cameron Harte: (TRY, converted by Philip Hacala), 80′ (McGill leads 30-10)

 

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer

Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
WEBSITE:www.mcgillathletics.ca
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca