Football: Notes from Quebec

I'm sure I'm not the only one who misses out on news and notes about the teams in Quebec because of the language barrier. But there are some pretty good teams there, so let's put our Grade 9 French to work and see what's going on:

Rémi Aboussouan (RDS) echoed others' thoughts about the quality of play in the QUFL vs. the AUS, throwing out phrases like "virtual domination" and referencing the 142-75 scoring margin in the interlocking games. I'm generally wary of sports columnists' opinions, but Aboussouan appears to be a cut above. In his latest column, we find other tidbits:

He's not too fond of Sherbrooke, observing that they have "this annoying habit of lethargic play in the first half," pointing out that a quarterback switch from Jean-Philippe Shoiry to Charles Saint-Martin was necessary in the Acadia game since the Vert et Or offence was "going nowhere," and dismissing their defensive performance in the 32-2 win because it came against the weak Axemen defence.

With respect to the disappointing season at Bishop's, he says we should "point the finger at the one-dimensional offence, or a defence that gave up 217 rushing yards per game. Aboussouan also briefly touches on Gaiters DB Harrison Maloney, who has the fourth-most tackles in the province, as a possible rookie of the year.

Jean-François Tardif caught up with Laval's rookie linebacker Samaël Lavaud in Le Soleil. Lavaud, who was committed to the University of Colorado until his scholarship was given to an American player, was sort of excited about opening the season in his hometown against McGill. But like most players, he'd rather face better teams than the Redmen. And interestingly, he doesn't consider the jump from CEGEP to the CIS to be very large.

Tardif is also looking forward to today's Laval-Sherbrooke game, saying Laval's offence will face a test against the strong Vert et Or defence. Laval's offensive coordinator, Justin Ethier, appears to have been amused by the suggestion that Sherbrooke's defence is their hidden strength: "A hidden strength? When a team's 5-1, it's because they play good football."

There's also a standard piece on the emergence of Rouge et Or receiver Mathieu Picard, who (surprise!) likes playing for a good team and is friends with all the other receivers.

Another note: when the latest Top 10 poll came out, RDS reported "les Gaels de Queen’s" were in second place. They aren't Golden in either official language!
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2 comments:

  1. Wouldn't it be Les Grand Hommes Juane?

    Would that be the translation for, "they're big, they're yellow, they're big yellow guys!"

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  2. Neate, if you're going to flip the vowels in a colour, make it "bleu" so we don't notice.

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