Banner Season: Gryphons complete OUA three-peat with convincing win over Queen's
Guelph, Ont. (via Guelph Gryphons) - For a third consecutive season, and for the sixth time in program history, the University of Guelph men's rugby team are OUA champions.
On Thursday night (November 9, 2023) in front of just under 1,000 fans at the University of Guelph's Varsity Field, the Gryphons men's rugby team defeated the Queen's Gaels, 35-22, in the OUA championship final. The Gryphons stormed out to a 28-3 lead and never looked back, en route to lifting the Turner Trophy for a third straight season as OUA champions.
The Ince brothers (Jacob and Josh) started things off for the host Gryphons, with tries in the 9th and 18th minutes, respectively, followed by additional tries from Adam Ford (34th minute) and Kobe Faust (44th minute) to give the Gryphons a commanding lead they would not relinquish.
The victory for Guelph not only clinches a third straight OUA title, but also caps an undefeated OUA season for the Gryphons, who posted a perfect 6-0 record during the regular season, followed by playoff wins over both Laurier and Queen's to complete the conference three-peat.
"We have brought in really good people and really good players, and we have been able to continually build over these last few years to get to this point," says Cory Hector, who is currently in his 8th season as head coach of the Gryphons men's rugby program, having now led the Gryphons to a remarkable four OUA titles in that span (2023, 2022, 2021 & 2016).
"The scary thing is, we only graduate about five guys, so a lot of these guys are going to be back next year, it's an exciting group," adds Hector. "We started off a little rocky, but the 70 minutes in between the first and last whistles were pretty excellent. The last couple years, we have had losses along the way, or we have won one on the road. But this year, the guys have been hyper-focused and have just continued to get better with each performance. They will want to make some noise next week."
The three-time defending OUA champion Gryphons will now set their sights on the national championship tournament, with the 2023 Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship set to take place in Langley, British Columbia (Nov. 15-19). The Gryphons have qualified for the men's rugby national championship tournament each year since its inception in 2017, with the team's best finish coming a season ago when they earned bronze at the national championships.
