An early second half try for Fleming was the nail in the coffin as the Knights easily defeated the Thunder Women’s Rugby team at Twin Elm Rugby Park on Sept. 27.
Down only 8-0 at the half, Algonquin couldn’t handle the Knights offense and speed at the beginning of the second and conceded a try that put Fleming in firm control of the match.
Two converted penalty kicks at goal would give the Knights extra cushioning as they would go on to win 21-0.
Despite the loss, the Thunder were pretty happy with the effort against a formidable Fleming side.
“We did fairly well,” said Thunder captain Samantha Neveu. “That first 50 minutes we really pushed hard. We played with a lot of heart. There’s some fine tuning to do as the week goes on but we played with a lot of heart.”
Thunder head coach Dan Gauthier echoed his captain’s message. He was pleased with his teams effort.
“Fleming are a strong squad. They always are,” said Gauthier. “The girls played well. Injuries were the real tale of this one. Once players started going down, it’s really hard to keep your organization and your shape.”
Algonquin was plagued by injuries in the second half. Their team physio was on and off the field several times to deal with the sudden onslaught of injuries.
Full Back Jamee Espinosa was bloodied after taking a shot to the nose in a ruck.
“I think it threw us off a tiny bit,” said Neveu. “But, overall you can’t really do anything about it. People go down.”
From here the Thunder will look ahead to next week’s game against Loyalist. The Lancers are also winless having dropped their first three, including a 44-5 loss to Fleming in the second week of the season.
Algonquin knows that if they want a result out of that game, they’ll need to do some fine tuning on offence.
“A little bit more consistency on attack with the ball in hand,” said Gauthier. “I think we kind of left a try or two out there. With a little bit crisper passing and better assessment of the options we had, I think they could have been scores.”
Neveu believes that attention to detail at practice this week will be the difference in the next match on Oct. 4.
“I want the skills there,” said Neveu. What we really need to do as a team is put together what we learn this week in practice.”