Guelph Gryphons leave Brock Badgers behind in opener
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons opened their OUA women’s rugby season with a 44-10 victory over the Brock Badgers Saturday at Varsity Field.
With 511 rugby fans in attendance at the field that’s been renovated since the completion of the 2022 season, the Gryphs ran to a 24-0 lead by halftime before adding another try to their streak early in the second half.
Guelph Gryphons 44 Brock Badgers 10
Brock scored a converted try and a penalty kick in the middle stages of the second half, sandwiching another Guelph try, before the hosts completed the scoring with two more tries.
“I was really happy with the athleticism and the pace that we showed,” Gryphon head coach Colette McAuley said. “We’re working on our structure and that looked fairly consistent, but what we need to do is make sure that we execute the small skills under pressure. I think everyone was a bit nervous for a first game in front of their friends and family, but we’re working on having that intensity and crispness in the first 20 minutes of a game instead of taking 20 minutes to get into it. That will be what we work on over the next couple of weeks.”
While the Gryphs are concerned about their relatively slow start – they did have one try in the first 10 minutes – it’s something that is typical of a season opener.
“It is,” McAuley said. “We did have some good exhibition games against Ottawa and Queen’s and it was good preparation, but I think we just need more game time, more practice under pressure and we’ll continue to implement that over the next couple of weeks.”
One negative that stood out for the Gryphs was the number of penalties they took.
“We didn’t play the ref well, to be honest,” McAuley said. “We probably had 30 penalties to three. You can’t really score when you don’t have possession of the ball so we need to really look at how we adapt to how the ref is calling the game. It’s part of the game, something that we can control in terms of how we react to what he’s calling. That’s something that we’ll look at very, very closely because every referee is different and we need to adapt. It needs to be a lot quicker — 10 or 15 minutes and we should know how the game is going to go.”
It’s something the Gryphs will address immediately.
“Absolutely because it’s a game changer,” McAuley said. “When you don’t have possession and all of a sudden you’re down a player from a yellow card, or you march down the field 10 metres at a time, those are points on the board that you gave the opposition that they not necessarily earned.”
Natalie Armatage led the Gryphon scoring as she had two consecutive tries. The first one completed the scoring in the first half while the second one started the scoring in the second half. Grace Jacklyn added a try and a convert while Taylor McKnight, Kennedy Feasby, Jillian Bernard-Jardine, Lara Jorgensen and Abby Auger each had one try and Karenna Ottywill kicked the other convert.
Chinga Palata had the try for Brock while Paige DeNeuve also had five points with the convert and penalty kick.
The Gryphs are fielding a team with its usual mix of veteran and young players. While none of the 52 players listed on its roster on the University of Guelph Athletic Department’s website are in their fifth and final year of eligibility, five are in their fourth year and 13 in their third year. That leaves 34 players including 21 in their first year.
The Gryphs are to play the McMaster Marauders at Hamilton Friday at 7 p.m.
Next home game is Sept. 16 at 1 p.m. against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Gryphon Rugby Day when the Gryphon men, who are to start their regular season Saturday against the Laurier Golden Hawks at Waterloo, are to host the Trent Excalibur at 3:30 p.m. in the lone Gryphon rugby doubleheader of the regular season.
In other women’s league games Saturday, Queen’s Gaels crushed Trent 102-0, Waterloo Warriors downed York Lions 57-14, Western Mustangs topped McMaster 22-10 and Toronto defeated Laurier 24-14.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Guelph Gryphons leave Brock Badgers behind in opener
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons opened their OUA women’s rugby season with a 44-10 victory over the Brock Badgers Saturday at Varsity Field.
With 511 rugby fans in attendance at the field that’s been renovated since the completion of the 2022 season, the Gryphs ran to a 24-0 lead by halftime before adding another try to their streak early in the second half.
Guelph Gryphons 44
Brock Badgers 10
Brock scored a converted try and a penalty kick in the middle stages of the second half, sandwiching another Guelph try, before the hosts completed the scoring with two more tries.
“I was really happy with the athleticism and the pace that we showed,” Gryphon head coach Colette McAuley said. “We’re working on our structure and that looked fairly consistent, but what we need to do is make sure that we execute the small skills under pressure. I think everyone was a bit nervous for a first game in front of their friends and family, but we’re working on having that intensity and crispness in the first 20 minutes of a game instead of taking 20 minutes to get into it. That will be what we work on over the next couple of weeks.”
While the Gryphs are concerned about their relatively slow start – they did have one try in the first 10 minutes – it’s something that is typical of a season opener.
“It is,” McAuley said. “We did have some good exhibition games against Ottawa and Queen’s and it was good preparation, but I think we just need more game time, more practice under pressure and we’ll continue to implement that over the next couple of weeks.”
One negative that stood out for the Gryphs was the number of penalties they took.
“We didn’t play the ref well, to be honest,” McAuley said. “We probably had 30 penalties to three. You can’t really score when you don’t have possession of the ball so we need to really look at how we adapt to how the ref is calling the game. It’s part of the game, something that we can control in terms of how we react to what he’s calling. That’s something that we’ll look at very, very closely because every referee is different and we need to adapt. It needs to be a lot quicker — 10 or 15 minutes and we should know how the game is going to go.”
It’s something the Gryphs will address immediately.
“Absolutely because it’s a game changer,” McAuley said. “When you don’t have possession and all of a sudden you’re down a player from a yellow card, or you march down the field 10 metres at a time, those are points on the board that you gave the opposition that they not necessarily earned.”
Natalie Armatage led the Gryphon scoring as she had two consecutive tries. The first one completed the scoring in the first half while the second one started the scoring in the second half. Grace Jacklyn added a try and a convert while Taylor McKnight, Kennedy Feasby, Jillian Bernard-Jardine, Lara Jorgensen and Abby Auger each had one try and Karenna Ottywill kicked the other convert.
Chinga Palata had the try for Brock while Paige DeNeuve also had five points with the convert and penalty kick.
The Gryphs are fielding a team with its usual mix of veteran and young players. While none of the 52 players listed on its roster on the University of Guelph Athletic Department’s website are in their fifth and final year of eligibility, five are in their fourth year and 13 in their third year. That leaves 34 players including 21 in their first year.
The Gryphs are to play the McMaster Marauders at Hamilton Friday at 7 p.m.
Next home game is Sept. 16 at 1 p.m. against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Gryphon Rugby Day when the Gryphon men, who are to start their regular season Saturday against the Laurier Golden Hawks at Waterloo, are to host the Trent Excalibur at 3:30 p.m. in the lone Gryphon rugby doubleheader of the regular season.
In other women’s league games Saturday, Queen’s Gaels crushed Trent 102-0, Waterloo Warriors downed York Lions 57-14, Western Mustangs topped McMaster 22-10 and Toronto defeated Laurier 24-14.
- Guelph Sports Journal