Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championships: Day One

A Rundown of the Action on CUMRC Opening Day

SportsIreland Compton — Published November 21, 2019

12:00 p.m. UVic (3) vs. UNB (6)
Final: UVic 48, UNB 0

The third seeded University of Victoria Vikings delivered a strong performance in the opening game of the tournament on Wednesday afternoon. Making their third appearance in the tournament, from the very start, UVic’s offence was firing on all cylinders, finding the holes in the sixth seeded University of New Brunswick Ironmen’s defence. Up 26-0 at the half, the Vikings came back for the second with the same momentum they started off with. They’d go on to score four more tries and shut down the UNB offence to take the game by a score of 48-0.

UVic will face Queen’s in the tournament semi-final at 12:00 p.m. Friday.

UNB will face McGill in the consolation semi-final at 12:00 p.m. Thursday

The Link’s Man of the Match:
James O’Neill, University of Victoria (Flanker)

2:00 p.m. Queen’s (2) vs. McGill (7)
Final: Queen’s 36, McGill 10

Evenly matched throughout the first half, neither team looked out of place in the matchup between second seed, and next year’s tournament host, Queen’s Gaels and the RSEQ finalist McGill. What truly hurt McGill throughout the first half was their scrums. They were simply not as strong as necessary to keep Queen’s from gaining possession and dominating offensively, which led to two tries, one early on and one to close the half. Queen’s capitalized on momentum with an early try in the second half, and McGill would not see much time on offence for the rest of the game save for one final push to close out the game, shortening the Queen’s lead to 36-10.

Queen’s will face UVic in the semi-final round at 12:00 p.m Friday.

McGill will face UNB in the consolation semi-final at 12:00 p.m. Thursday

The Link’s Man of the Match:
William Matthews, Queen’s (Flanker)

4:00 p.m. UBC (1) vs. Brock (8)
Final: UBC 56, Brock 10

To start off, this game was not the blowout some people may have been expecting. The two-time national champion UBC got off to a slow start offensively, giving the eighth seeded Brock the ability to contain them. As the first half progressed, UBC began to find their sweet spot, scoring five unanswered tries. With the final few minutes of the first half ticking down, Brock found themselves in the right position to end the Thunderbirds’ scoring streak. While they were held back from scoring a try, they did manage to put up a penalty kick, earning themselves three points going into halftime. The Brock team that came back from halftime looked refreshed, and so much stronger defensively. They would score a try later on in the second and hold their opponents to just two more. While they may have lost 56-10, the Badgers can leave satisfied with a solid second half performance.

The Link’s Man of the Match:
Adam Melia, Brock (Second Row)

UBC will face Concordia in the tournament semi-final at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Brick will face Guelph in the consolation semi-final at 2:30 p.m. Thursday