VANCOUVER, BC – The No. 2-ranked Guelph Gryphons men's rugby team staged a dramatic second half comeback to stave off a quarterfinal upset in their Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship matchup with the Memorial Sea-Hawks at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium on Wednesday.
The OUA champions trailed by 14 points at the half but came storming back after the break to take the lead, only to fall behind again with seconds remaining. There was still time for
Brenden Black to break Memorial hearts with a last gasp try to win it for the Gryphons on the final play of the game.
The victory saw Guelph advance to the national semifinals where they will take on the winners of the UBC-Calgary quarterfinal on Friday, Dec 2 at 8pm (ET). Memorial, meanwhile, will head to the consolation semifinals Friday afternoon.
The Gryphons took the early play to the Sea-Hawks, who struggled to get the ball out of their own half, but they opened up some space in the 19th minute ending with Mudiwa Makanza going over for the opening try, which Lucas Shortall converted.
Shortall then doubled the Sea-Hawks lead six minutes later, finishing off a great passing move for Memorial's second try and then adding his second conversion of the game to give the back-to-back Atlantic University champions a 14-0 lead at the half.
Memorial knew they would be in for a Guelph onslaught to start the second half and they were, managing to hold firm defensively until the 39th minute when Guerschom Mukendi scored a converted try to get the Gryphons on the board.
Three minutes later and they were level when
Jacob Ince sprang clear to go over for another try and Ince's second conversion saw the teams all tied up with 18 minutes to play.
Guelph's continued pressure saw Memorial worn down again in the 50th minute as Charles Trollip scored Guelph's third try of the afternoon, with Ince getting his third conversion, as the Gryphons took the lead for the first time.
The Newfoundland and Labrador side weren't finished yet and came storming back with their third try of the afternoon, but an unsuccessful conversion attempt saw them trail by two points with six minutes remaining.
That set the scene for some stunning late drama.
The Sea-Hawks got a penalty with just seconds remaining which Shortall converted, but with the 60 minutes now up, Memorial couldn't kick the ball into touch, allowing Guelph to keep the play alive, which Faust then fully capitalized on to tear up the left wing and score the winning try. Ince converted to give the Gryphons the latest of dramatic late victories.
Shortall was named Player of the Game for the Sea-Hawks, with
Owen Williams getting the honours for the Gryphons.
Scoring Summary
GUELPH 28 MEMORIAL 22
First Half
MEM - Try, Mudiwa Makanza (Lucas Shortall convert) 19' 0-7
MEM - Try, Lucas Shortall (Lucas Shortall convert) 25' 0-14
Second Half
GUE - Try, Guerschom Mukendi (
Kobe Faust convert) 39' 7-14
GUE - Try,
Kobe Faust (
Kobe Faust convert) 42' 14-14
GUE - Try, Charles Trollip (
Kobe Faust convert) 50' 21-14
MEM - Try, Simbarashe Mandoza (convert unsuccessful) 54' 21-19
MEM - Penalty Convert, Lucas Shortall 60' 21-22
GUE - Try,
Brenden Black (
Kobe Faust convert) 60' 28-22
