VICTORIA, B.C. (November 22, 2018) – The Queen's Gaels extended their journey to the national championship with a 15-8 win over the host Victoria Vikes.
 
With the win, the Gaels have booked their ticket to the National Championship final on Sunday afternoon where they will take on the defending champion, UBC Thunderbirds. Game time is set for 4pm ET and can be seen live at facebook.com/rugbycanada.
 
GAME FLOW
The first 20 minutes of the game was back-and-forth as both sides struggled with possession and penalties. With the cold and windy conditions, both teams were dropping passes and causing turnovers.
 
However in the 23^rd minute, Sam Ibbotson was able to take advantage of one of these turnovers as he intercepted a lobbed pass and with empty space in front of him took it in for the try. Dylan Young's conversion was good to give the Gaels a 7-0 lead.
 
When the Vikes regained possession they began to push the ball down the field and eventually converted for a score in the 30^th minute. Kapi Vataiki beat a final Gaels' defender out on the right edge of the pitch and scored the try. However, the conversion was missed as the Gaels took a 7-5 lead into halftime.
 
The second half began with more back-and-forth play as both sides struggled to create opportunities on the opposing stellar defences.
 
In the 40^th minute, the Gaels were called for a penalty, which set up a Gradyn Bowd penalty kick to give the Vikes an 8-7 lead.
 
Fortunately for the Gaels, in the 45^th minute they would have a penalty opportunity of their own. Dylan Young nailed a lengthy kick just along the right side of the post to regain the lead for the Gaels, 10-8.
 
In the closing moments of the match, the Gaels chose not to take a penalty kick within the 25-yard line and instead opted for a scrum. The decision would pay off as Trevor Helgason powered his way over the goal line and into the end zone in the 57^th minute. Dylan Young would not miss the wide conversion attempt, keeping the Vikes within striking distance, 15-8, with a few minutes left.
 
However, the Gaels would hold their ground, once again grab possession and run out the clock to earn the gritty win.

FINAL SAY
"It was a very tough game today. We knew UVic was a strong side coming in," said head coach Dave Butcher. "We are really going to have to tidy up our play when we have ball in hand if we want to compete with UBC on Sunday. When you are bobbling and dropping the ball all the time it really interrupts the flow of your game, making it hard to play quick."

GAME MVPs
VIC: #8 Nicholas Carson
QUE: #7 Alex Pipchuk
SCORING SUMMARY
                  1       2       F
QUE:         7       8      15
VIC:           5       3       8
 
FIRST HALF
23': QUE Try- #11 Sam Ibbotson (Convert Dylan Young) 7-0 QUE
30': VIC Try- #14 Kapi Vataiki (Convert Missed) 7-5 QUE
SECOND HALF
40': VIC Penalty Goal- #10 Gradyn Bowd 8-7 VIC
45': QUE Penalty Goal- #9 Dylan Young 10-8 QUE
57': QUE Try- #6 Trevor Helgason (Convert Missed) 15-8 QUE​