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Burlington, ON

The Niagara Thunder hosted a determined Ottawa Harlequins squad on Saturday July 3rd, and took a 31-15 win to clinch the visitors spot in the National Junior Championship East Final on July 10th.

This was the second encounter between the two teams with the first being won by the Thunder in Ottawa May 15th.   It was a hot sunny day in southwestern Ontario and the conditions saw referee Brian Bell call for water breaks in each half. The heat seemed to affect the players of both teams resulting in a fairly loose and scrappy game at times, which detracted from some of the excellent plays on both sides.

The Thunder dominated the first half scoring three tries and converting two to lead 19-0 at half time. In the second half, Thunder were surprised by a ferocious period of offense from the visitors leading up to Ottawa’s first try of the game. However, the Thunder squad soaked up the pressure and about 20 minutes into the second half 8-Man Jarrett Hamilton picked up at the back of a maul and barreled over for the first of two tries in the second half.

The Ottawa team were not to be outdone and scored twice more themselves, when the Thunder were down to 14 men with Thunders Chad Strapp being yellow carded for a misdemeanor.

The final score was 31-15 giving the Thunder a maximum five points by also scoring four tries and earning a bonus point. Thunder will now play the winners of the Atlantic Division, the Newfoundland Rock, in St. John’s on Saturday July 10th for the Eastern Canada Championship.

Coach Jonathan Goldie commented on the win, but he was concerned at the teams fall off performance late in the game.

“We will need to play a lot better and more consistently in Newfoundland” he said. “The Rock have a tradition of being very tough and determined and the fan base down there is something special and worth at least five points to the home team, so our lads will have work to do. However, I have great confidence in the team’s ability to get the job done - we have some superb players and if they play together, they will beat anyone.”

The game promises to be an exciting affair and the winner will then host the Western champions on July 31st for the National Junior Championship title.

Scorers:

Thunder
Tries: James Shanley, Jarrett Hamilton, Chad Strapp, Graham Turner, Daniel Moor, Converts Richard Jutronich 3

Harlequins
Tries: Parker Morrison, Matt Nichol, Doug Davidson

More information at www.niagarathunderrugby.org www.rcu20.ca

Contact: David Burnett – Manager (416) 919-4118 or deburnett@sympatico.ca

Photographs attached, courtesy John Goldie.