For several years, Queen’s Rugby programs have been the standard for success in Ontario. The women’s side specifically has been dominating within OUA and National competition, bringing home two provincial titles and one national title in the past three years.
Unfortunately, Men’s Rugby hasn’t found the same success in the postseason. Despite several perfect regular seasons, the last OUA championship was won before COVID-19 in 2019, and they’ve failed to best the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds who’ve taken home five of six national championships since the competition’s inception.
With new Head Coach John Lavery being introduced to the squad, he’s been tasked with taking a talented group farther in the postseason than they’ve made it in previous years.
In an interview with The Journal, Lavery spoke on the nature of the team, and their performance thus far into the year.
“It’s a really interesting mix of really experienced players that form a pretty tight nucleus, and a whole gang are really talented first year guys,” Lavery said.
It’s no surprise with a team that has performed so well in the past, success hasn’t been hard to find. There’s a level of performance from players both new and old that refuses to leave the programs.
“We’ve been challenged in a bunch of other ways, both in of physicality, like adversity on the road, and the guys have responded every time when they needed to, and consequently left themselves in a pretty good position for this point of the season,” he added.
Naturally, with a new coach and a rotating squad, growing pains are almost guaranteed. This showed clearest in a matchup against the Guelph Gryphons team that has gotten the best of the Gaels in recent years, with the Gryphons once again taking a close match 35-31 on Sept. 14.
“We got on top of them early, and our talent and our endeavor really showed through. But we’re kind of inexperienced in some sort of spaces, and our depth in others was challenged, and that’s sort of where we fell short,” he said.
However, going into the postseason, Lavery has no shortage of help from his players. Marcus D’Acre, ArtSci ’26, has been a breakout star, leading the team on the field, and players like Michael Hayes, ArtSci ’25, have put in the work over the offseason to become contributing factors to the team.
Lavery also has a dedicated staff around him, including often of the community who donate their time and resources to help the Gaels succeed. There are a large number of them, and each contribute in their own way to help build the team, Lavery said.
“Sean Carmichael, who’s a high school teacher from Coburg, who drives in every single day and does a heap of small voice coaching, sets up the cameras, does a lot of work that just kind of makes the gears turn,” he added.
In addition, as only the second full-time Men’s Rugby Head Coach in program history, he’s afforded luxuries that previous coaches haven’t had.
“I do have way more flexibility, and I have more time to interact with the game drivers and stuff and incorporate them into building game plans and doing analysis,” he shared.
It’s the little steps in the program that help build a team, and a winning culture. From hearing John Lavery talk about his players and staff, there’s no shortage of that, even with a heartbreaking regular season loss.
“When we fell short, the guys recognized it, they took it on the chin, and they’ve been working hard ever since to correct whatever we needed to correct,” he said.
It’s encouraging to hear positive remarks abour the team going into the OUA championships where they hope to bring home their first banner since 2019 and earn a bid to the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship.
—With files from Skylar Soroka
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