OTTAWA, Ont. – On Friday night (Nov. 15) at Matt Anthony Field in Ottawa, the Guelph Gryphons men's rugby team saw their dreams of an undefeated, national championship season come to an end in a 38-28 loss to the Queen's Gaels in the semifinals of the 2024 Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship.
Meeting for the third time this season, and second time in a seven-day span, the Gryphons were unable to take down their rivals from Kingston for what would have been a third straight meeting this season, with the Gaels erasing an early 14-0 deficit by scoring 33 uanswered points en route to the 38-28 victory. The Gryphons got off to a fast start, getting out to a 14-0 lead with
David Scollon scoring in 4th minute and
Tomas Dallan scoring another try two minutes later. The Gaels would trim the deficit in half in the 16th minute when they would score a try after a long passage of play to shift the momentum to their side. Queen's would score 33 unanswered points in 15 minutes to close out the first half as the Gryphons saw their 14-point lead turn into a 19-point deficit, trailing 33-14 at halftime. Queen's would add another try coming out of the half to extend their lead. The Gryphons would start their comeback in the 50th minute as they would get tries from
Augustus Murphy and
Seth Powell two minutes apart to trim the deficit down to 10, but that would be as close as they would get. The second half deficit was too much for the Gryphs to overcome as they would see their national championship chances end in a 38-28 loss.
With the win, the Queen's Gaels advance to the championship game of the 2024 Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship, where they will face the
Montreal-based ÉTS (École de technologie supérieur) Piranhas on Sunday, with
ÉTS pulling off the upset over UBC in their semifinal matchup earlier on Friday. Meanwhile, the loss for the Gryphons, their first loss of the entire 2024 season, means that Guelph will face the UBC Thunderbirds on Sunday afternoon (3pm) in the national bronze medal game. Both the bronze medal match (3pm) and gold medal match (6pm) can be seen live online at
therugbynetwork.com.
Players of the Game:
QUE: Marcus D'Acre
GUE: Kobe Faust
Scoring Summary:
FIRST HALF
GUE: Try David Scollon (Tomas Dallan conversion) – 4'
GUE: Try Tomas Dallan (Tomas Dallan conversion) – 7'
QUE: Try Marcus D'Acre (Marcus D'Acre conversion) – 17'
QUE: Try Marcus D'Acre (Marcus D'Acre conversion) – 17'
QUE: Try Owen Lee (Marcus D'Acre conversion) – 27'
QUE: Try Trekker James (Conversion failed) – 28'
HALFTIME
QUE: Try Trekker James (Marcus D'Acre conversion) – 33'
QUE: Try Bauer Mercer (Conversion failed) – 40'
GUE: Try Augustus Murphy (Tomas Dallan conversion) – 49'
GUE: Try Seth Powell (Tomas Dallan conversion) – 53'
FINAL SCORE: Queen's 38 - Guelph 28
