Mustangs eliminated by Marauders in OUA Quarterfinals

LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs men's rugby season came to an end on Wednesday night with a hard-fought 21-20 loss to the McMaster Marauders in an OUA Quarterfinal matchup at Alumni Field.
 
The Marauders will now advance to the OUA Semi-Finals this Saturday, when they'll travel to Kingston to take on the defending OUA champion Queen's Gaels.
 
Mike Turnbull scored the first points of the game for the Mustangs with a well-placed penalty kick within the first five minutes. Peter Milazzo and Peter Gray soon followed up with one try each to bring the score to 13-0.
 
"Peter Milazzo played out of his skin today," said Mustangs head coach David Knowles. "He was by far the best player on the field, he just did everything. He's a first year player and he really played well today. It's the best game I've seen him play all year long."
 
With just over ten minutes left in the half, Mike Smith put the Marauders onto the scoreboard with a try. Reenergized, McMaster added another try and a penalty goal at the 35 and 40 minute marks bringing the halftime score to 13-13.
 
James Leveridge of the Marauders started off the second half scoring with a well placed penalty kick. Undaunted, the Mustangs responded with a try and corresponding conversion less than five minutes later.
 
Capitalizing on Mustang passing errors, the Marauders slowed down the purple and white offense while focusing on strong runs of their own.
 
"They got a turnover and made a long break, which changed momentum a little bit," says Knowles. "They came back with another late one, and they just took the momentum away from us. We had all the momentum, we got up early, and sat back on it."
 
To win the match for McMaster, Graham Dobbs ran the ball 80 yards for the final try of the game and brought the final score to 20-21.
 
The Mustangs finish the season with a combined 4-3-1 regular season and playoff record, and finished in fourth place in the OUA regular season standings.

Source: Western Mustangs