Gryphons claim first OUA men's rugby title since 1998 with dramatic win over Queen's
There are great games, and then there are epics.
There are great games, and then there are epics.
Last year's OUA men's rugby championship contest between the Guelph Gryphons and the Queen's Gaels was a great game.
But their title rematch on Sunday evening on Varsity Field? That was an epic.
It took three extra halves and two rounds of penalty kicks, but the Gryphons won in thrilling fashion to avenge last season's heartbreaking loss, and hoist the Turner Trophy as OUA champions for the first time since 1998.
Mark Perrin made the clinching kick, after also ending the first round with his team's only good kick and sending the shootout to a second round. So, in effect, he both extended and then ended the OUA rugby season.
"I do the kick-offs, so I have a little bit of experience," said the fourth-year fly half from Mississauga after receiving his gold medal. "It comes down to a mental aspect of the game, and you've got to stay focused and just get the job done."
Gryphs head coach Cory Hector said he was confident in the five players he chose for kicks, even though it's not something the team had worked on in practice.
"Guys will always fart around a little bit, see who can kick the furthest, things like that. But you could tell neither team really practises it a whole lot," he said. "Thankfully, Mark stepped up twice and drilled two massive kicks. That's all that matters."
The score was 17-17 at the end of regulation, with Guelph's Adam Maahs scoring two tries and Jack Caylor scoring one. Cody Burton made one convert for the Gryphs, who led 12-7 at halftime.
Two 10-minute extra halves followed regulation. Maclain Wakefield gave Guelph a short-lived lead in the first extra half, with a convert by Mario Van Der Westhuizen, but the Gaels responded in the second extra half with a try of their own, and the score was tied again, 24-24.
Another extra period, this one sudden death, saw no scoring. That forced a five-player dropkick shootout, first from 22 metres out. When the first round ended 1-1, thanks to Perrin, the ball was moved back to about 35 metres. The Gryphs won that round 2-0, with Van Der Westhuizen also making his kick.
"I haven't even processed it yet," Hector said of Guelph's championship, only the school's third OUA title in men's rugby. Queen's, by contrast, has won 22 titles and was trying to win the Turner Trophy for the fifth consecutive year.
"Full credit to Queen's," Hector said. "This was a great showcase for rugby. It was crazy – punch, counter-punch, punch, counter-punch."
Along with Perrin's foot, the other major key to the Gryphs' victory was their defence, which made several huge goal-line stands throughout the game. The Gaels pounded away relentlessly at the Guelph wall, but rarely broke through when the chips were down.
"We saw how they beat Western on the last play of the (semifinal) game, so we did spend some time on it this week," said Hector, who was named the OUA's coach of the year on Friday. "The amount of times we pushed them away, that was a difference maker."
"It was just grit and determination," said veteran lock Max Van Dijk. "We had everybody throwing their bodies on the line, literally every player gutting it out and making that hit. That's what you need to win championship games."
The road to a championship has been a tough one for Guelph, which settled for silver in each of the last two years, both times against Queen's. The third time, though, was the charm.
"This is for all those guys who were with us the previous two years," Hector said. "And we graduate a big number of guys this year, so it's great that they can go out as champions. I'm ecstatic for them."
One of those fifth-year players is Van Dijk, who won his fifth OUA medal, and first gold.
"It's been five years of grinding – two bronzes and two silvers. This was the year to do it," he said. "It just feels amazing. I can't even describe it in words. . . it just feels good to finally bring home the hardware for the Gryphons."
Sunday's win meant a clean sweep for the Gryphons in OUA rugby. The women's team won their own Ontario championship two weekends ago in Hamilton.
* * *
SCORING
GUELPH: 12-5-7-0: 24
QUEEN'S: 7-10-7-0: 24
SCORING SUMMARY
1st HALF
3rd minute: GUELPH Try – Adam Maahs (no convert) – 5-0
5th minute: QUEEN'S Try - Kai Llyod (Alex Colborne convert) – 5-7
34th minute: GUELPH Try – Jack Caylor (Cody Weese-Burton convert) – 12-7
2ND HALF
45th minute: QUEEN'S PK – Alex Colborne – 12-10
68th minute: QUEEN'S Try – Michael Douros (Alex Colborne) – 12-17
74th minute: GUELPH Try – Maclain Wakefield (no convert) – 17-17
EXTRA TIME
89th minute: GUELPH Try – Adam Maahs (Mario Van Der Westhuizen convert) 24-17
96th minute: QUEEN'S Try – Nicholas De Lallo (Alex Colborne convert) 24-24
SUDDEN DEATH
No scoring
KICKS
1st Round – 22 metres
GUELPH
Mario Van Der Westhuizen – no good
Jordan Hofstra – no good
Mike Little – no good
Nate Stein – no good
Mark Perrin - good
QUEEN'S
Dylan Young – no good
Alex Colborne – good
Michael Douros – no good
Kai Llyod – no good
Ben Bethune – no good
2nd Round – 35 metres
GUELPH
Mario Van Der Westhuizen – good
Jordan Hofstra – no good
Mike Little – no good
Nate Stein – no good
Mark Perrin - good
QUEEN'S
Dylan Young – no good
Alex Colborne – no good
Michael Douros – no good
Kai Llyod – no good
