September 11, 2017

OUA Men's Rugby Roundup September 9-10

Sept 10

Queen's 72, Laurier 7

WATERLOO, Ont. (September 10, 2017) - The Queen's Gaels (2-0) men's rugby team played their second straight road game to start the season taking down the Laurier Golden Hawks (1-1) 72-7.

Evan Underwood got the Gaels on the board early and finished the opening half with a pair of tries while Alex Colborne had a try and nailed a pair of conversions.

In total the Gaels ended the half with a 29-0 lead.

After getting up to 41 points for Queen's, Laurier was able to break up the shutout with a try and conversion. Queen's finished off the match with five more tries and three conversions to bring their total to 72.

Seven different Gaels finished with tries and four of the seven had two or more in the game.

The Gaels will host the RMC Paladins on Saturday at 1pm at Nixon Field in the teams home opener.

Sept 9

McMaster 48, Trent 19

First blood fell to their opponents, but the Marauders responded quickly and decisively Saturday, earning their second win of the season at the expense of the Trent Excalibur in a 48-19 romp in Peterborough.

The Excalibur earned the first try of the afternoon, and moved ahead 7-0, but McMaster quickly regained the upper hand and eventually closed out a convincing victory.

With the win, the Marauders moved to 2-0 on the season.

Max Pinkerton led the Marauders with a pair of tries, while Clayton Pendakis, Jeremy Hennessy, Cam Elliott, Tyler Gagne and Connor Byrne also crossed the try line Saturday.

Pendakis also chipped in a convert, while Callum Macleay had three of his own and David Kavtiashvili successfully made good on both a convert and a drop goal.

McMaster returns home to Back 10 Field for a Sunday showdown with the defending OUA champions, the Guelph Gryphons. That game is slated to kick off at 2:00 p.m.

Western 78, Toronto 0

LONDON, Ont. - Trevor Noskiewicz recorded two of the Mustangs' 12 tries to help lead the Western men's rugby team to 78-0 shutout over the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.

"Our guys have been working on their footwork and contact nonstop this year. We've been trying to improve our ball presentation and movement in practice while trying to figure out ways to stress the defence out," said Mustangs' head coach Tom Dolezel. "We just look at the defence, try to read them, and hope to capitalize, and we did a good job of manipulating the defence today."

With the win, the Mustangs improve to a 1-1 record on the year to earn themselves a .500 record early in the season. The Varsity Blues loss will move their record to 0-2 on the year, as they will look for their first victory next Saturday against Trent University.

After an opening-game loss to McMaster over Labour Day, Noskiewicz sparked the Mustangs' offence early this afternoon, breaking through the Toronto defence and putting John Fazio in prime position to score the opening try through the Varsity Blues' blockade. Noskiewicz's two tries on the day would be matched only by second-year Luc Hansen-Boucher who contributed two of his own in the Mustang victory.

"Trevor was phenomenal. He was involved in our playmaking kicks, he was active on defence, and was obviously big on the scoreboard for us. He did a great job preserving the ball for us throughout the game. He was just everywhere today," commented Dolezel, praising Noskiewicz's efforts.

"Our forwards were doing a great job of sucking the defence into the middle of the field, and once they did that, they were able to get it out to [Hansen-Boucher] and me, and we took advantage. When they work like that it just creates more openings for us to get through," said Noskiewicz. After Fazio opened the scoring for the purple and white, it was not long until Curtis Robichaud battled for another early try, leading to a 12-0 Western lead within the first ten minutes of the match. Western would go on to score four more tries in the first half, making the conversion on half of those, ending the half up 36-0.

The second half was much of the same for the purple and white, as they continued to clamp down on the defensive side of the ball and tallied a total of six more unanswered tries before the final buzzer sounded, regaining the early-season momentum. "Last week was pretty harsh for us. We had more possessions than McMaster and we just couldn't find a way to finish," said Dolezel, looking back on the previous week's loss to the Marauders. "So today, taking advantage of those opportunities we created was huge for us. But it's still something we have to keep progressing towards."

"Everyone was so positive on the field today, helped to get each other going, and played as one unit. When we do that, obviously it works out for the better. We just need to continue bringing each other to another level," added Noskiewicz. "We were focused on shutting them out for the game. Moving forward, other teams will see that score and won't look forward to playing against us."

The Mustangs will be back in action this Friday, September 15 when they host the Waterloo Warriors at Alumni Field. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.

Source: westernmustangs.ca

Brock 45, RMC 17

The Badgers would be called for two penalties, which Waterloo's Mitch Voralek tried to connect on missing both penalty kicks from 30 and 40 yards out sending them wide right and wide left.

Brock's offense would continue to build as Ryan Hickey pounded in three straight tries with Karn connecting on all three converts to make it 28-0 after 40 minutes.

Just 30 seconds into the second half, Brock's Nabeel Imtiaz would use his speed and score his first try of the season. Karn would nail the tough convert from the sideline to make it 35-0.

The Badgers would be called for two yellow cards sending both Wade Little and Imtiaz to the sinbin. With two men down, Waterloo would take advantage and score back-to-back tries while only making one convert to make it 35-12.

Brock would get two more tries before the end of the game with Hickey registering a new personal single game high with his fourth try of the contest. Twice in his career he has collected three tries in a game. Zach Zorbas would pound one in for his first points of 2017. Karn would add two more converts as he went a perfect 7-for-7 with the extra points.

The Badgers are on the road Saturday, September 9th when they travel to Kingston to take on the RMC Paladins. Game time is 3pm.