Royals seniors, Gaels juniors grab boys’ rugby crowns
GUELPH – The Ross Royals and Guelph CVI Green Gaels split the District 4/10 boys’ rugby titles Thursday at the Guelph Lakes Sports Fields, Ross winning in senior after GCVI had prevailed in junior.
The championship victories mean the three D4/10 titles went to three different schools since 2012 as the Centre Dufferin Royals won the girls’ crown last week.
In 2012, the senior boys’ title went to the Orangeville Bears while the Erin Raiders won the senior boys’ crown and the Ross Royals claimed the junior boys’ title.
Thursday, Ross blanked the Gaels 24-0 in the senior final while GCVI took the junior boys’ final.
Senior Boys Rugby
Ross completed an undefeated D4/10 season with the championship game win.
The Royals scored four tries in the game with three of them coming in the second half.
Isaac Misener scored a pair of tries while Callum Williams and Ely Sutton added one apiece. Charlie Thurtell kicked two converts.
The title win was the third in a row for Ross and their 11th overall.
Both the Royals and Gaels advance to the CWOSSA AAA tournament next Tuesday and Thursday at Kitchener.
Ross is to play Kitchener CI Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the first preliminary game while GCVI is to battle Brantford CI at 11 a.m.
The winner of the GC-BCI game is to play the loser of the Ross-KCI game in a 1:10 p.m. semifinal while the winner of the Ross-KCI game is to play the loser of the GC-BCI game in a 2 p.m. semifinal.
Semifinal winners are to meet in the CWOSSA final Thursday at 4 p.m.
All games are at Grand River Collegiate.
Junior Boys Rugby
A convert was the margin of victory for the Gaels as they won their first junior title since 2007 and their third overall.
The result also put an end to a league championship run by the Royals as Ross had won the previous eight junior titles. They’d also won 12 of the last 13 junior championship matches.
Both teams scored three tries in this year’s final with the Gaels connecting on two converts and Ross on one.
GCVI grabbed the lead in the first half as they held a 12-10 advantage at halftime. The teams had two tries apiece in the second half, one of them converted.
Ross had finished first at the completion of the regular season at 4-0-0 while GCVI was second at 3-1-0. The Royals defeated the Gaels 32-12 on the final day of the regular season, May 15.
Scorers in the final were not reported.
GCVI advances to the CWOSSA AAA championship tournament Tuesday and Thursday at Kitchener. They’ll be in a pool with Brantford CI and Waterloo CI and are to play games Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. and 11:50 a.m.
The first-place finisher in each of the two pools are to battle for the CWOSSA crown Thursday at 3 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal