After cruising through their semi-final match, men’s rugby is one win away from a third straight OUA title.
The Gaels dominated the McMaster Marauders on Nixon Field today, avenging a narrow regular season loss with a 61-0 blowout victory.
With the win, Queen’s will host either the Brock Badgers or Guelph Gryphons in next Saturday’s OUA final.
It marks the third year in a row that they’ve been the home team in the provincial title match. The Gaels beat the Western Mustangs to clinch championships in 2012 and 2013.
Head coach Gary Gilks said Queen’s performance against McMaster was “the best game you can play.”
“Obviously the score reflects how we played,” Gilks said. “We spent a lot of this week training especially for this game and we wanted to execute all of our structure, and I think right from the start we showed it.”
The Gaels kept the ball firmly positioned inside the Marauders’ half of the field for most of the match, not allowing McMaster the time or space to generate any offence. Queen’s built a substantial 40-0 advantage by the end of the opening half.
Gilks said the Gaels maintained their playing style after taking a near-insurmountable halftime lead.
“The game plan never changes. With top teams, you have to stick to your game plan or else it can result in injuries,” he said. “It’s not the way we would play against any other team at any other point. We stick to our plan, and if we score points, we score points.”
Queen’s added a trio of tries in the final 40 minutes, highlighted a brilliant play from Kainoa Lloyd, in which the wing snagged a short kick from teammate Mark Charette and sprinted past multiple defenders for the score.
The Gaels assured themselves home-field advantage throughout the OUA playoffs by finishing first in the league this season.
With a championship three-peat in sight, Gilks said playing next Saturday’s final at Nixon Field could prove to be important.
“Having the edge of playing at home is huge, in front of the fans and not having to worry about travel,” he said. “We’re happy about that.”
Tags
Gaels, Gilks, mcmaster, Men's rugby
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