KINGSTON, Ont. (November 11, 2018) - The Queen's Gaels successfully defended their OUA championship title by defeating the Guelph Gryphons 48-10 for their 24th Turner Trophy in program history. The win also caps a perfect 10-0 undefeated season in OUA play for the Tricolour.
GAME FLOW
Queen's put forth a dominant effort from the opening minutes, controlling the play and pushing the Gryphons defence back on their heels.
The first try of the match came as Dylan Young finished off a strong drive from the Gaels with a short try. He then followed up with a conversion to give Queen's a 7-0 lead.
Minutes later the Gaels continued to put points up on the board. First, a great powerful driving run from Patrick Lynott set up another short score this time from Ruairidh MacPhail. Nicholas De Lallo then got in on the action with a try of his own and Queen's held a 21-0 lead.
Queen's finished out the half with tries from Joshua Engelbrecht and Trevor Helgason to lead 31-0 at halftime.
Guelph used the break to their advantage as they were able to put down a pair of tries to cut into the Gaels lead at 31-10.
The Tricolour responded as Nicholas De Lallo put down two tries of his own and John Varriano added another for good measure.
The Gaels secured the victory with a 48-10 final and Helgason was named the man of the match.
REMEMBRANCE DAY
MUST SEE - DE LALLO MUSCLES PAST GUELPH
GAELS CELEBRATE
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Queen's will turn their focus next to the 2018 Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship which will be hosted in Victoria on Nov. 21-25 and will build off the success of the inaugural event hosted last year in Guelph. The five-day event will be hosted at the University of Victoria's Wallace field and Centennial stadium.
The six-team tournament will include representation from regions across Canada including the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario and western Canada.
FINAL SAY
"Coming into this year we lost some great players and the team really came together early. Today we were really able to get off to a quick start and take control from there." -
Patrick Lynott
"The boys have been exceptional again this year. The work rate and the way they've approached training for the matches has been exemplary." -
David Butcher, head coach.
BY THE NUMBERS
24 - Total Turner Trophy Victories
7 - Straight meetings in the OUA final between Queen's and Guelph
6 - Of the last seven titles won by Queen's
20 - Straight OUA regular season/playoff wins for Queen's over two undefeated seasons
