Bryn Davies
men’s rugby
The men’s rugby team defeated the Western Mustangs last Saturday, earning the Gaels a place in this weekend’s gold medal match against the Brock Badgers. Contributing to the team’s recent victories was scrum-half Bryn Davies, the OUA playoffs’ leading scorer who was recognized as one of the OUA’s Peak Performers for the week ending Nov. 4.
Early into Saturday’s match Davies completed a 40-metre penalty kick to give the Gaels a 3-0 lead. He connected on another penalty kick later on, helping turn the tide in the Gaels’ favour. The kick came after a Western player tackled Davies illegally, leaving him feeling shaken up.
“I was a little rattled, but it just put me in the mindset that I really wanted to get those points,” Davies said.
Queen’s head coach Peter Huigenbos was impressed with Davies’s resilience.
“[The Western player] essentially picked Bryn up and dropped him on his head. … He not only earned the penalty but he shrugged it off and made the kick,” he said.
Brock defeated Queen’s during the regular season, but Davies said he feels the team is prepared to best the Badgers during the final.
“We lost to Brock during the season and we’re looking to go out there and get revenge.”
Huigenbos said Davies has proven to be an exemplar of comraderie and co-operation.
“The way [Davies] has been playing has been inspirational,” he said. “He’s a quiet leader but his integrity speaks for itself.”
—Erick Thurston
Anne Murphy
women’s basketball
The Queen’s women’s basketball team started their season off on the right foot with an 88-54 victory over the Royal Military College Friday. They followed that by splitting their two exhibition games against the Université de Québec à Montréal and Concordia University.
A lot of the credit for those victories goes to post player Anne Murphy.
On Friday night, Murphy had a double-double, scoring 15 points and adding 11 rebounds. On Saturday, Murphy scored 12 points and nine rebounds and followed up with another fine performance on Sunday in which she scored 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Murphy said the more time the team spends on the court, the more the players mesh together.
“The more games we have under our belt the better we’re going to play, and the more chemistry we’re going to have,” she said.
Queen’s head coach Dave Wilson said Murphy is one of the team’s most valuable assets.
“She really does anchor our defence,” he said. “She plays much bigger than she is: at 5’11’’, she’s often covering players who are 6’2’’, 6’3’’, and she does a really good job of it.”
Wilson said he’s not sure where the team would be without Murphy’s rebounding.
“It’s critical. Without her in there, we’d be in big frigging trouble. The essence of basketball is rebounding and turnovers, and Anne is at the top of our rebounding category.”
—Erick Thurston
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