Redmen ruggers run roughshod over Sherbrooke, stretch win streak to 11

James Wilson, a fly-half from London, England, scored three tries as the McGill men's rugby squad waltzed to a 43-3 victory over the visiting Sherbrooke Vert & Or before a crowd of 200 at Molson Stadium, Thursday.
Redmen ruggers protect the ball during their 43-3 win over Sherbrooke last night. / Photo: Derek Drummond
Redmen ruggers protect the ball during their 43-3 win over Sherbrooke last night. / Photo: Derek Drummond

By Earl Zukerman

James Wilson, a fly-half from London, England, scored three tries as the McGill men’s rugby squad waltzed to a 43-3 victory over the visiting Sherbrooke Vert & Or before a crowd of 200 at Molson Stadium, Thursday.

The division-leading Redmen improved to 5-0 on the season and extended their win streak to 11 against RSEQ opponents datng back to last year. Excluding four forfeits, the last time that the Redmen lost to a Quebec opponent was 26 games ago in a 17-10 setback to Concordia on Oct. 24, 2010.

McGill jumped out to an early 10-0 lead scoring a pair of uncoverted tries by Thomas Stokes of Vancouver and Hugo Peurois of Grenoble (France) before the game was eight minutes old.

Wilson tallied his first of three to make it 15-0 by the 29-minute mark. Sherbrooke finally broke the shutout bid with four minutes remaining in the first half when Yanick Mailhot connected on a penalty kick.

However, the Redmen exploded for four more tries in the final stanza to complete the rout.

Other try scorers for McGill included Robert Ashe of Ottawa, and Patrick Mulherin of Calgary. Cameron Perrin, a history senior from North Vancouver, B.C., who contributed eight points, making four of seven conversion attempts.

By tallying seven tries in the contest, McGill earned their second bonus point of the season in the RSEQ standings, which rewards teams that score more than three tries in a game.

With three games remaining before post-season play, McGill has 22 points in the standings, nine more than second-place Concordia. The Redmen, who lead the league in both offence and defence, have outscored opponents 119-47 in their five contests, including a 102-36 margin over their last three.

Next up for the Redmen is a move out to the University’s Macdonald campus as part of the Homecoming Week celebrations. They will take on the Montreal Carabins (0-4) at McKewen Field on Saturday, Oct. 19. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.

Other remaining games on the schedule will be on the road against Concordia (3-1) and Bishop’s (1-3).