Redeeming themselves after a heartbreaking semifinal loss to UBC, the Queens University Gaels became the third-best women’s rugby team in the country after another nail-biting match to win bronze over their in-conference rival, the University of Guelph Gryphons, 28–26.
“They gave us a really good game, and that’s what we want at U Sports. We don’t want these blowout games like we have in regular season,” said sixth-year back row Lizzie Gibson. “Good on Guelph for coming out and giving us a really good game, but I’m just really proud of how we reacted and dug deep and found that drive.”
The Gaels and the Gryphons put up quite the battle, which was to be expected of two teams who know each other very well — coming from the same conference. It was a rematch of the OUA conference championship, where Queens came out on top with a commanding 61–21 win. This time, there was much more on the line.
“Anytime you get a Queens/Guelph match, you throw conventional wisdom out the window a little bit,” said Queens head coach Dan Valley. “It’s just going to be a heavyweight match for the entire time, and that’s the mindset that we have to have.”
The last U Sports ranking before the tournament had the Gaels ranked first, mostly on the strength of their attack, being the top offensive team in the country. Case in point, to start off nationals, they beat Acadia 90–10 in a complete blowout, setting a new record for the most points in a U Sports Women’s Rugby Championship game. Driving this offensive momentum was Gibson, who scored 157 points in the season. Not only did this make her the leading scorer in U Sports — she also had more than double the amount of points of the second-place scorer.
The Gryphons, although not quite as high-flying on offence, are still a solid team, and were ranked fourth in the last U Sports ranking before Nationals. Facing off against their rivals — who they had yet to beat this season — they had to turn up their game. But with a medal on the line, Guelph came out with a fire lit under them.
“We know Guelph is a very strong team, and they also know us,” said Queens player of the game Liv Dibua. “So we understood that game plan — that we need to work from the very beginning and that we had to adjust a few things.”
“We know what Guelph is, what Guelph does,” said Gibson. “We came out a bit on top today. So I’m proud of us.”
In the tournament, both teams were victorious in their quarterfinal games. Guelph — although they played in a closer matchup than Queens’ complete blowout — still had a solid win over the St. Francis Xavier X-Women. It started off as a close game, but when the X-Women got a yellow card in the first half, the Gryphons took advantage of them being down a player to push the offensive attack, going on a 19–0 run, which helped them solidify the win down the stretch for a final score of 45–21.
Both teams went on to lose their respective semifinals, both playing tough teams from the west coast, with the Gryphons playing the top seeded University of Victoria Vikes. Their inability to break past UVic’s defence had them fall 42–0. The Gaels played the host team and defending champs — the UBC Thunderbirds — in another close battle, but fell just short of the gold medal match after getting stuffed at the goal line on the final play, losing 20–14.
“We obviously lost a heartbreaker on Friday, and those really close ones are arguably the toughest ones to come back from, especially in such a short turnaround,” said Valley. “So [I’m] super proud of the group for turning it around the way that they did, showing up today and competing for 70 minutes the way that we needed to.”
“I’m in awe,” said Dibua. “Our team grinds so much, and I know the last game was hard for us and not making it to the final, but we knew we had to work for this.”
“It wasn’t the medal game that we wanted to be in, but I think coming out of the loss of semifinals, it was really big to just regroup,” said Gibson. “We knew that we could feel these emotions all next week.”
Right out of the gate, both teams brought a ton of offensive energy, as they looked to leave it all on the field. The Gryphons got on the board first — with a quick offensive push early, they had an incredible read on a Queens pass, stepping in to intercept the ball, then raced down the field all the way to the 10-metre line before offloading the ball to keep possession.
After flipping the field, the Gryphons could not quite get over the line, but with that early burst of power, they kept the ball in Queens’ end. With Guelph about five metres from the try-line, using ruck after ruck to keep trying to rush into the try zone, Tausani Lavale finally surged over the try-line to score. While the conversion was not good, in the first 10 minutes of the game, the Gryphons took the first lead, up 5–0.
Almost immediately after the first points of the game, as they have done all tournament, the Gaels quickly responded with a try of their own. Gibson — who kicked all the conversions in this game — made her first off this Gaels try, earning Queens the lead 7–5. This two-point lead kicked off a back-and-forth for the rest of the game, with Guelph continuing to stay in the game, only trailing by two every time Queens tried to take back the lead.
With the score at 14–12 for Queens and only five minutes left in the first half, Guelph locked down on defence. Off a lineout for the Gaels at centre line, the Gryphons held strong, barely giving them an inch to move.
Queens got the ball out and went for a kick to quickly push up the field, but Guelph — showing their smarts on defence once again — read the ball and were there to block it.
As the Gryphons continued this forceful defensive play — and with a few calls that went Guelph’s way — they limited the high-scoring Queens offence and kept the game close, going into halftime only down by two, with the score holding at 14–12.
In the second half, the drive from both teams was intense, as they knew they had to make these last 35 minutes count. The second half started similarly to the first, as the Gaels and Gryphons found themselves in a tug-of-war for possession. While the ball changed hands multiple times, both teams stood strong on defence, and neither one was able to break through for the first 15 minutes.
Finally, Queens was the team to get the scoring going again with an incredible offensive display. Kennedi Stevenson was the one to break the deadlock, going on an almost 60-metre run, dodging Gryphon after Gryphon as she sailed right into the try-zone, putting the ball down right behind the uprights. Gibson could not miss this one, making another conversion to give the Gaels a strong 21–12 lead.
The tide seemed to be turning in favour of Queens, as they looked like their usual dominant selves the second half. But Guelph would not roll over. They fought tooth and nail to stay in the game until the very end, and soon after, the Gryphons broke through again, as their strong defence helped them find success on the other end of the field.
After a kick gave the ball to Queens, Guelph was immediately on them, giving them no room with some great tackles. With another steal — this time by Colleen Wade for the Gryphons — a try was in their sights. She ran down the field — taken down just about at the try-line — but Taylor McKnight was able to get it over and down in time to score before she was fully tackled. This put the Gryphons back in it at 28–19.
Once again, trading try after try, the Gaels looked to respond. Near the five-metre line, when given a quick-tap play, Queens wasted no time, seeming to catch the Gryphons off guard enough for Stephanie Douglas to quickly get over the try-line and reinstate their nine point lead.
With less than ten minutes left, down multiple tries, Guelph could have easily counted themselves out of the game. But they kept fighting. Off an offload, Addy Holmes got the ball and dodged the Queens defence, diving right into the try-zone for a phenomenal offensive play. With a tough angle on the conversion, Amanda Sarabura was able to make it, bringing the Gryphons back to only a two point deficit at 28–26.
That missed conversion by the Gryphons early in the first half loomed large. Because Gibson had a perfect game for Queens, making all four of her conversions, the Gryphons were constantly stuck down two, and in the end, that would be the reason they fell just short of the win.
Although known for their offence, it was the Gaels’ defence in the end that stood strong. As the Gryphons pushed up the field, Queens held strong, just holding on until a call went their way. With that, they were able to kick it out to end the game, winning the game 28–26, and with it, the bronze medal.
“We needed to tighten things up there defensively. Pressure was good, and we just needed to take advantage of a few opportunities that they were giving us on the attacking side of things,” said Valley. “[I] thought we did a pretty good job of that in the second half.”
It was a well-deserved win for the Queens team, and although not the medal they wanted to play for, they were overjoyed to still get bronze in the end.
“At some point, you’ve just got to get out of the way and let the players play,” said Valley. “And I thought they did a good job managing the game and bringing that one home.”
“I played for some of our teammates who are injured, for our teammates back home as well. So that’s going through my mind. [I’m] just amazed and grateful,” said Dibua.
”I’m really proud of the whole team and I’m really proud that we came out with the win today and that we ended on a high note,” said Gibson. “There’s like 14 graduating players, so it’s good for all of them, and passing off the torch to the next generation. It’s left in very good hands."
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