Kingston, Ont. – After a tremendous 2014 season, the Gryphon men's rugby team took home a silver medal after suffering a 32-23 defeat to the Queen's Gaels on Saturday (Nov. 8) in Kingston.  With the win Queen's claimed their third straight OUA Championship title and 21st title overall to tie Toronto for the most for any school.

Coming into the match, the Gaels were riding a 15-game win streak on their home field (including both regular season and playoffs).  In the first half, that win streak was in serious jeopardy thanks to some great play by the Gryphons.  Behind a dominant forward performance, the Gryphons took control in the opening 40 minutes.  A pair of penalty kicks by fifth year full back Joe Newman (Waterdown, Ont.) gave the Gryphons an early 6-0 lead.  The Gryphons didn't slow down and the Gaels found themselves on their heels again as Guelph attacked their goal line to put Alexandre Charest-Pekeski (Barrie, Ont.) through with the first try of the game. The Gryphons returned yet again to the Gaels end breaking down the defensive line with Eric Howard (Ottawa, Ont.) finding a seam to put down a second try to lead 16-0 by the 30^th minute of play.  However, from that point on the Gaels were able to respond and would score the final 12 points of the half to make it a 16-12 game at the break.

Queen's was able to carry that momentum into the second half.  A blocked kick led to a try by James Dent (Toronto, Ont.) which gave the Gaels their first lead of the match.  A run of 29 unanswered points by Queen's gave them control of the match.  To the Gryphons' credit, they would continue to fight back with Joe Newman adding a try late in the half.  But in the end, it would be the Gaels winning 32-23 to claim their third OUA banner in a row.  The Gryphons fall just short of winning their first Turner Trophy since the 1998-1999 season.

Tommy Kirkham (Vancouver, BC) was named man of the match for the Gaels after putting down two tries in the victory.