Tonight (Oct 12) the Guelph Gryphons men's rugby team defeated the RMC Paladins 58-9 at Varsity Field in Guelph to remain undefeated.
Opening the game, Guelph got off to a strong start by dominating the first three consecutive rucks to gain possession of the ball to bring it out to half with a massive boot from Jonathan West (Scarborough, Ont). RMC was quick to retaliate with a kick of their own to drive back into Guelph's 22 only to have their momentum swept out from under them as Guelph thwarted a close call by touching the ball down in their own try zone.
RMC pressure deep in Guelph territory remained fierce after three consecutive penalties gave them a scrum down on Guelph's 5-yard line. Fortunately Guelph's rookie hooker, Eric Howard (Kanata, Ont) was able to win the ball back on the RMC scrum to get the ball off to Joe Newman (Waterdown, Ont) who turned the tides of momentum with a strong run into RMC territory. Newman was able to dish the ball to Byron Boville (Barrie, Ont) who ran it in the rest of the 40 yards to put Guelph up on the scoreboard. Newman hit the first of three conversion attempts in the half to put Guelph up 7-0.
Within minutes, a Gryphon line-out deep in the RMC half led to a strong maul that would wheel its way into RMC's try zone for Guelph's second score of the night. Nick Walters (Mississauga, Ont) would be credited with the try.
Following another fantastic run by Jonathan West to give Guelph their third trip onto the scoreboard, RMC elected to kick for points on a penalty just outside of the Guelph 22. Sam Hogg (Romteln, AB) nailed it to spoil Guelph's shut out dreams as RMC mounted the scoreboard for the first time. Robert Paris (Barrie, Ont) would run in Guelph's fourth try shortly after to put Guelph up 26-3 to end the half.
Guelph's dominance would continue right over into the second half with a quick lineout outside the RMC try zone. On a trick play off the lineout, front-man Eric Howard confused the RMC defence by taking a quick pass into scoring territory for his first of two tries on the night.
RMC was able to steal the ball on a Guelph scrum minutes later to get Matthew Hammond (Toronto, Ont) RMC's first try of the night. The following conversion was unsuccessful to keep RMC at eight points.
Eric Charest-Pekeski (Barrie, Ont), P Sinel (Toronto, Ont) and Scott Sopel (Uxbridge, Ont) would all add individual tries to extend the Gryphon lead. Joe Newman would connect on four of his five attempts on the half to bring the score to 59-8 for Guelph's sixth consecutive win in the OUA season.
They look to continue their streak next Saturday (Oct 20) as they travel to Toronto to take on the Varsity Blues. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 pm at the Varsity Centre.
