Gryphon rugby men all alone atop OUA league
KINGSTON – The Guelph Gryphons remained unbeaten in OUA men’s rugby play Saturday as they doubled the Queen’s Gaels, their perennial championship rivals, 34-17 at Nixon Field on the Queen’s campus.
No school other than Guelph or Queen’s has won the league title since the Western Mustangs won it in 2011. The Gryphs won it each of the past two seasons for three championship wins in that stretch and five overall. The Gaels won it seven times in that stretch – COVID-19 won in 2020 – for a league-best 25 overall.
Guelph Gryphons 34 Queen’s Gaels 17
A little history lesson — Toronto Varsity Blues sit second in the all-time OUA title wins list with 20.5, their last being in 1982, while the McGill Redbirds are third at 17.5, all before 1960. They aren’t in the league anymore. Western’s win in 2011 lifted its total to 8.5 while the McMaster Marauders won in 2010, their seventh title victory. Guelph’s win last fall put them sixth overall as it broke the tie with the York Lions who’ve won it four times, but not once since 1984. Waterloo Warriors won it in 1985 to give them 2.5 championship wins overall and the lone win by the Brock Badgers came in 2007.
The half wins come from the two times they had two champs – Toronto and McGill in 1926 and Waterloo and Western in 1977.
While the Gryphs defeated the Laurier Golden Hawks for the OUA title last year, that was the first season since 2014 that the Gryphs and Gaels didn’t meet in the championship match.
Saturday, the Gryphs opened the scoring in the first minute of the game, gave up the lead 20 minutes later and then regained in time to carry a 24-14 advantage into the second half. The Gaels cut the gap to seven points 15 minutes into the second half, but Guelph added two more tries to complete the scoring.
David Scollon led the Gryphs with four tries while Owen Stirling and Tomas Dallan had one apiece. Kobe Faust kicked two converts.
James Webb had a try, two converts and a penalty kick for Queen’s while Jacob Merkur had a single try.
The Gryphs lead the league with 15 points (3-0-0 and 3 bonus points) while Brock (2-0-1 3 bonus points) and Waterloo (3-1-0 and 1 bonus point) are tied with 13 points. Queen’s (2-1-0 and 1 bonus point) and Laurier (2-2-0 and 1 bonus point) are tied with nine points and are followed by the Trent Excalibur (2-2-0) with eight points, Western (1-2-1 and 1 bonus point) with seven points, McMaster and Toronto (both 1-2-0 and 2 bonus points) with six points, RMC Paladins (1-2-0) with four points and York (0-4-0) with no points.
Next up for the Gryphs, who are at the midpoint of their regular season, is a match against Waterloo Friday at 6 p.m. at Varsity Field.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Gryphon rugby men all alone atop OUA league
KINGSTON – The Guelph Gryphons remained unbeaten in OUA men’s rugby play Saturday as they doubled the Queen’s Gaels, their perennial championship rivals, 34-17 at Nixon Field on the Queen’s campus.
No school other than Guelph or Queen’s has won the league title since the Western Mustangs won it in 2011. The Gryphs won it each of the past two seasons for three championship wins in that stretch and five overall. The Gaels won it seven times in that stretch – COVID-19 won in 2020 – for a league-best 25 overall.
Guelph Gryphons 34
Queen’s Gaels 17
A little history lesson — Toronto Varsity Blues sit second in the all-time OUA title wins list with 20.5, their last being in 1982, while the McGill Redbirds are third at 17.5, all before 1960. They aren’t in the league anymore. Western’s win in 2011 lifted its total to 8.5 while the McMaster Marauders won in 2010, their seventh title victory. Guelph’s win last fall put them sixth overall as it broke the tie with the York Lions who’ve won it four times, but not once since 1984. Waterloo Warriors won it in 1985 to give them 2.5 championship wins overall and the lone win by the Brock Badgers came in 2007.
The half wins come from the two times they had two champs – Toronto and McGill in 1926 and Waterloo and Western in 1977.
While the Gryphs defeated the Laurier Golden Hawks for the OUA title last year, that was the first season since 2014 that the Gryphs and Gaels didn’t meet in the championship match.
Saturday, the Gryphs opened the scoring in the first minute of the game, gave up the lead 20 minutes later and then regained in time to carry a 24-14 advantage into the second half. The Gaels cut the gap to seven points 15 minutes into the second half, but Guelph added two more tries to complete the scoring.
David Scollon led the Gryphs with four tries while Owen Stirling and Tomas Dallan had one apiece. Kobe Faust kicked two converts.
James Webb had a try, two converts and a penalty kick for Queen’s while Jacob Merkur had a single try.
The Gryphs lead the league with 15 points (3-0-0 and 3 bonus points) while Brock (2-0-1 3 bonus points) and Waterloo (3-1-0 and 1 bonus point) are tied with 13 points. Queen’s (2-1-0 and 1 bonus point) and Laurier (2-2-0 and 1 bonus point) are tied with nine points and are followed by the Trent Excalibur (2-2-0) with eight points, Western (1-2-1 and 1 bonus point) with seven points, McMaster and Toronto (both 1-2-0 and 2 bonus points) with six points, RMC Paladins (1-2-0) with four points and York (0-4-0) with no points.
Next up for the Gryphs, who are at the midpoint of their regular season, is a match against Waterloo Friday at 6 p.m. at Varsity Field.
- Guelph Sports Journal