Queen's wins over UNB Ironmen to start Canadian University Men's Championships

UVic Vikes 21/11/2018

Rugby 15s Senior Men

The 2018 OUA champs Queen’s were victorious in their tournament opener with a convincing win over UNB.

VICTORIA- The Queen’s University Gaels began the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship presented by title sponsors, Victoria Mitsubishi and Carson Automotive Group, and corporate sponsors Pemberton Holmes Ltd. and the Canadian Rugby Foundation with a dominating win over Maritimes champions, the University of New Brunswick Ironmen by 76-5 at Wallace Field in Victoria.

Queen’s scored a total of 12 tries in the match, with 10 different Gaels earning their way on the scoresheet. Second-year lock Noah King and Gaels captain Will McArthur were the two players with multiple scores on the day for Queen’s. The lone try scored by the Ironmen was touched down by fourth-year centre Kyle Patterson.

“We didn’t know what to expect from UNB coming into this match today,” said Dave Butcher, in his second year as head coach of the Gaels. “In preparation for this game, we focused on just playing our on style and set up systems that we thought would lead to success.”

UNB began the match stringing together several phases and clean ball in the breakdowns allowed the Ironmen to set a comfortable platform for their forwards to run their lines.

“We have to give credit to the way UNB came out to start the game today. They were physical and tough around the breakdowns. In the second half I think we were able to showcase the speed we have throughout our line up,” added Butcher.

After the opening 30-minute half, the Gaels opened up a 38-5 lead over the Ironmen. Centre Cully Quirke broke through the Ironmen line and cruised 50-metres down the sideline for the second Queen’s try of the match. Tries from winger Sam Ibbotson, flanker Christian Futschik, hooker Steven Lockhart, fullback James MacDonald and No. 8 Nick De Lallo rounded out the scoring for Queen’s. On the final play of the first half, the Ironmen took advantage of a penalty taken deep in Gaels territory. UNB took control of the ball off their own lineout and eventually set up Patterson for the try in the corner.

UNB was strong in the scrums and around the break downs for the entire match. The Ironmen were able to cause a few turnovers in the Queen’s scrums and continued to be physical in the rucks. Ironmen No. 8 Billy Hornaday was often the lead runner in all the UNB open play phases and showed his skill as a reliable ball carrier.

“Today we proved that we will be able to scrummage with the teams that are here,” said Ironmen head coach Andrew DuPlessis. “I thought we played very well in most aspects of our set pieces today. The adjustments we will need to make is in the speed of the game. All of the teams here will try and play a very quick game.”

Queen’s continued to stack up the tries in the second half. Player of the game Noah King got over the goal line twice for the Gaels and McArthur also scored twice in the second half. Jonny Variano and Zach Rensink also chipped in with a try each.

Next up, Queen’s will face the tournament hosts, the Victoria Vikes on Nov. 22 at 2:00 p.m. New Brunswick will enjoy a day off before they take on the same Victoria Vikes under the lights on Friday night at Centennial Stadium with kick off scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

“It is a big game for our program,” commented DuPlessis, who is in his 14th season at the helm. “UVic is quite the organization and we are honoured to be able to represent the Maritimes in such an important game. The Vikes love to swing the ball wide when they get the chance so our spread defence and tackling will be key.”

All games are streamed live on the Rugby Canada facebook page, while scores, recaps and more are available at govikesgo.com/rugby. To purchase tickets for the championship, visit govikesgo.com/tickets.

GAME MVPs

QUE: #4 Noah King
UNB: #3 Jonathan Velma

SCORING SUMMARY
    1    2    F
QUE: 38 38    76
UNB: 5    0    5

FIRST HALF

7’: QUE Try- #14 Sam Ibbotson (Convert missed) 5-0 QUE

10’: QUE Try- #12 Cully Quirke (Convert Connor Jaques) 12-0 QUE

14’: QUE Try- #7 Christian Futschik (Convert Missed) 17-0 QUE

17’: QUE Try- #2 Steven Lockhart (Convert Connor Jaques) 24-0 QUE

22’: QUE Try- #15 James MacDonald (Convert Connor Jaques) 31-0 QUE

26’: QUE Try- #8 Nick De Lallo (Convert Connor Jaques) 38-0 QUE

30’: UNB Try- #13 Nikolas Wood (Convert Missed) 38-5 QUE

SECOND HALF