The Laval University Rouge et Or are the Canadian university champions in women’s rugby for the second time. On Sunday they won the Molinex Trophy as they defeated the Queen’s University Gaels 22-5 in the final game of the 2022 Canadian Interuniversity Sport Women’s Rugby Championship at the Wallace Field and Centennial Stadium in Victoria, British Columbia.
The major reason why the Rouge et Or were victorious on Sunday came down to penalties, as four Gaels infractions turned out costly. Audrey Champagne of Quebec City, Quebec successfully made four penalty kicks, including three in the first half as Laval had a 9-0 lead at halftime. Champagne was also the Championship most valuable player. Laval meanwhile also had uncoverted second half tries from Alexina Tardif-Samson of Quebec City and Cecile Leclerc of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Quebec. Tardif-Simon had her try in the 49th minute, and Leclerc had her try in the 75th minute, five minutes left in the match.
This was a defensive struggle for most of the first half as each team was unable to score a try. There was a lot more offense in the second half.
Laval went through Quebec Conference play undefeated in 2022 at six wins and zero losses. In the 2022 national championship, they clobbered Acadia 68-0 in the quarterfinals, and then beat Guelph 30-8 in the semifinals. Laval previously won the Molinex Trophy in 2019.
