Fly-half Scott Gill scored 15 points as the Concordia Stingers defeated the McGill Redmen 20-18 to win the Quebec university men's rugby championship before more than 500 enthusiastic fans at Molson Stadium on Sunday.
Gill, an Engineering student from Beaconsfield, Que., connected on five penalty goals as the Stingers built up a 15-8 lead early in the second half. Senior fullback Etienne Bouchard-Claisse of Montreal drove the final nail, scoring what proved to be the game-winning try with less than five minutes remaining to give the third-place Stingers a 20-13 lead.
"I'm proud of the way we played," said Stingers head coach Clive Gibson. "We showed a lot of heart through both playoff wins (including last week's semifinal upset over the second-place Bishop's Gaiters)."
The Stingers posted a 3-4-1 record in the regular season, while the Redmen boasted a 7-1 record. McGill's only loss was to Concordia by a score of 27-20 on Oct. 5. The teams also met on Oct. 19 when the Redmen recorded a 9-6 victory.
The last time the Stingers won the Quebec championship was in 2001 with an 11-10 victory over the Redmen. Concordia's last appearance in the final was 2002 when the team was edged out 14-10 by McGill.
