Balloch boosts McGill ruggers to Covo Cup conquest over Crimson

(PHOTO COURTESY OF HARVARD RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Gideon Balloch of Ottawa, scored a game-high 14 points as the visiting McGill Redmen rugby team doubled Harvard 34-17 to capture the Covo Cup at Cumnock Field on the campus of Harvard University, Saturday.

Balloch, a 6-foot, 185-pound mechanical engineering junior, scored one try and added a penalty kick to go along with three conversions as McGill captured the Covo Cup over the Crimson Red for the 17th time in 30 confrontations. The Cup, which was initiated in 1974 to mark the centennial of the first meeting between the two storied clubs in 1874, is named in memory of the late Peter Covo, a former multi-sport athlete at McGill, who went on to become a professor and rugby coach at the University.

Fly-half Mathieu Sidoti, a third-year civil engineering major from Beijing, tallied two tries for the Redmen.

Rounding out the McGill scoring with one try apiece was junior Mike Davis, a 6-foot-3, 212-pound winger from Mississauga, Ont., and senior Kyle Buckley, a speedy fly-half from Richmond Hill, Ont.

McGILL SCORING HIGHLIGHTS

McGill 34, Harvard 17

(Covo Cup @ Cumnock Field IV, Cambridge, Mass)

Gideon Balloch (1 try; 1 penalty kick, 3 conversions; 14 pts)

Mathieu Sidoti (2 tries; 10 pts)

Mike Davis (1 try; 5 pts)

Kyle Buckley (1 try; 5 pts)

McGILL-HARVARD COVO CUP CHAMPIONS:

1974: McGill won 6-3

1975: McGill won 13-12

1976: Harvard won 27-0

1977: Harvard won 24-10

1978: McGill won 12-8

1979: Harvard won 19-0

1980: Harvard won 27-9

1981: Harvard won (score unavailable)

1982: McGill won 15-3

1983: McGill won 8-0

1984: McGill won 28-7

1985: McGill won 21-0

1986: McGill won 49-3

1987: McGill won 22-14

1988: Harvard won 9-7

1989: Harvard won (score unavailable)

1990: McGill won 35-0

1991: Harvard won 16-9

1992: McGill won 14-8

1993: Harvard won 14-9

1994: Harvard won 9-7

1995: McGill won 30-7

1996: McGill won 32-25

1997: Harvard won 17-14

1998: (not available)

1999: (no game)

2000: (no game)

2001: McGill won 45-7

2002: Harvard won 17-0

2003: McGill won 37-0

2004: (no game)

2005: (no game)

2006: (no game)

2007: Harvard won 22-7

2008: (no game)

2010: McGill won 34-17

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman

Communications Officer

Athletics & Recreation

McGill University

514-398-7012 (Tel.)