The Queen’s women’s rugby team suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday, a 50-0 home defeat at the hands of the defending OUA champion Guelph Gryphons.
“It was an embarrassment,” said head coach Beth Barz.
Coming into the game, Queen’s was tied for first in the OUA East Division with a 3-0 record. At the same time, Guelph had the appearance of a team in crisis, carrying a record of 1-2 and coming off a 50-0 loss of their own at the hands of the Western Mustangs.
But Guelph was superior that day. They scored the game’s first try in three minutes and never looked back, with the Gaels having trouble gaining their composure. The first half saw the Gaels allow after to be intercepted, lose the ball in their scrums and miss numerous tackles.
Down 19-0 at halftime, coach Barz decided to shake things up.
“Our first-half strategy clearly didn’t work, so we used some subs to try to change the flow of the game.”
Unfortunately, the sweeping changes to the Gaels on the pitch made no difference, and Guelph picked right up where they left off at the start of the second half, continuing a dominant performance reminiscent of their play as last year’s provincial champions.
Jacey Murphy led the way for Guelph with three tries, while Michelle Joslin added two. Lianne Inglis kicked five converts and Larissa Chomyk, Jane Kirby and Jen Cerullo scored one try apiece rounded out the scoring with one try each.
The vast majority of the game was played inside Queen’s 22 yard line, and the few times the Gaels managed to gain field position on Guelph they were shut down by the Gryphons’ defensive line. So demobilized was the Queen’s offence that the Gryphons’ one missed conversion and two missed spot kicks made absolutely no impact on the home squad.
Barz said there was one positive thing that the Gaels can take away from the loss.
“It’s better to hit rock-bottom mid-season than during the playoffs,” she said.
With that positive attitude in mind, Gael fans can hope for a better performance in Friday’s home game against Waterloo. The Warriors are coming off a 58-3 drubbing of Laurier last weekend. The game is at Kingston Field at 1 p.m.
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