2017 regular season record: 8-0
2017 regular season standings: 1^st in OUA
2017 playoff record: 10-0
2017 playoff finish: Defeated Guelph 62-17 in OUA Championship
Home Field: Nixon Field
Recent Success: 2017 OUA Champions, 2016 OUA silver medal, 2015 OUA Champions, 2014 OUA Champions, 2013 OUA Champions, 2012 OUA Champions, 2011 OUA silver medal, 2010 OUA bronze medal,
Full Schedule: CLICK HERE
 
The Queen's men's rugby team will open their regular season at home against Waterloo on September 1. Game time is set for 1pm and if you can't make it to Nixon Field the action will be streamed live on OUA.tv.

The Gaels are coming off a historic undefeated season, where they never trailed during the entirety of the regular season and OUA Playoffs, and will look to carry that momentum into the 2018 campaign.

Dave Butcher returns for his second season as the head coach of Gaels. His undefeated coaching debut ranks among his many accomplishments including being a national U20 forwards coach, national A team assistant coach and national scrum development coach for Rugby Canada. Prior to that, he was the high performance coach for Scottish Rugby.

Four of the team's six all-stars in 2017 are returning and looking to repeat as OUA Champions. These include Patrick Lynott, Brendan Blaikie, Ruairidh MacPhail and Michael Douros who will lead a talented group. The team will also have 2017 OUA Rookie of the Year Josh Engelbrecht back within the fold for his second season.

However, the Gaels will be without two of U SPORTS' best as both Alex Colborne and Kainoa Lloyd have graduated.

Colborne was an OUA All-Star who led the conference with 82 points throughout the season. Meanwhile, Kainoa Lloyd was the team's sixth and final All-Star who was a huge factor in the Gaels' gold medal win with three tries in the OUA Championship game against Guelph.

With Colborne no longer on the squad, the Gaels will look to Dylan Young, an OUA All-Star in 2016 and top 10 in scoring last season, to fill the scoring void.

The Gaels are already off to a hot start with their 51-0 exhibition win over Trent. Six different players combined for nine tries as the team showcased their depth in impressive fashion.

With the coaching staff, top-end talent and depth all returning, the Gaels' men's rugby team should be poised for yet another historic season.
 
Quote from the Head Coach:
"We have had a great start to the season with a very competitive and intense training camp. With an extremely strong group of returning players and a very exciting crop of recruits this year once again the expectancy in the squad is very high," said head coach Dave Butcher.

"Our first league opponents are Waterloo and we know that they will be looking to come to Queen's on Saturday and cause an upset and we are not taking them lightly. The players have been completely focused on their performance moving into this weekend and will be looking to go into this match and drive a performance that will make a real statement of intent on how we want to play this year."

Key Returnees:
Dylan Young
Patrick Lynott
Michael Douros
Brendan Blaikie
Ruairidh MacPhail
Josh Engelbrecht
Nicholas DeLallo

Key Losses:
Alex Colborne
Kainoa Lloyd
Charlie Tremblay
Jeffrey MacDonald