GEORGIAN 28, SHERIDAN 7

OAKVILLE, Ont. - It was a day of firsts for the Sheridan Bruins men's rugby team (0-3 OCAA) - first home game, first try scored in OCAA play - but those would not translate into a first OCAA victory, as second half lapses cost them and they slowly lost control of the contest, falling 28-7 to Georgian.

"We played our best game of the year, [but] we still haven't put together 80 minutes of solid rugby," head coach Carlos Moniz said. "We probably put together a good 60 minutes [today] but the 20 minutes that we're not putting together is what's hurting us unfortunately. It seems that when we kind of go into a shell, the other team takes advantage of it. That's what happened today, they scored a try right at the end with two minutes to go."

It wasn't the best start for the Double-Blue as Georgian quickly advanced the ball deep into the Sheridan end.

While they were able to hold the Grizzlies at bay for a brief spell, the visitors pulled the ball out of the ruck five-metres away and were able to power in for the opening try.

The Bruins had a chance to get on the board a short time later when they elected to kick from about 35-yards out and while Brandon Campbell's attempt had more than enough distance, it missed on the right.

After Georgian re-claimed possession following the kick, Sheridan forced a turnover near midfield and pushed it toward the goal line - getting near the five-yard mark - but were pushed back and a turnover robbed them of their scoring chance.

On the ensuring possession, Georgian was able to push back up the field and scored another try to make it a 10-0 at the half.

After a spirited halftime chat, the re-charged Bruins put the first try on the board when James Shanly broke in off the left side.

Campbell was able to curl in the conversion kick from a tough angle to bring the home side within three, down 10-7.

Though the Bruins hung around at the scoreline for quite some time, Georgian was able to add two more penalty kicks and two more tries - the last of which was scored with just over a minute to play and was converted - to make the scoreline look more lopsided.

With another home game - against Mohawk on October 4 - looming Moniz is confident that his club is making progress and says that it's still a matter of refining some of the fundamental element.s

"We can still be better," he said. "We need to improve on our rucking and our tackling. We improved on our line outs and our scrums, so we're moving in the right direction for sure."

Source: Sheridan I.T.