HAMILTON – The Guelph Gryphons men's rugby players are always well aware of their match with the McMaster Marauders on the OUA schedule. It's an important date on the calendar every year, a chance to test themselves against a strong side. The Gryphons had to hang on to pull out a narrow 21-15 win in the latest meeting with their Hamilton-based rival Sunday afternoon at Ron Joyce Stadium.

Jordan Hofstra, John Sheridan and Erich Milne all scored first-half tries to provide Guelph with all the scoring it would need in a tough matchup.
 

"This is a game that the boys really look forward to," said coach Cory Hector, who fielded his strongest lineup to date in Guelph's third match of the season. "It makes the week of training easier. We did a lot of things in this match that we worked on.

"We looked great – for about 55 minutes."

The Gryphons (3-0) started out slow as the Marauders dominated possession in the opening 20 minutes of the match. The hosts would go up 3-0 but Guelph stormed back to score the three tries in quick succession for a 21-3 lead at the half.

McMaster kept the Gryphons off the scoresheet in the second half and manufactured two tries, the second coming late in the match. But the comeback attempt fell short.

"We eventually started playing our style of rugby," Hector said of the offensive outburst in the first half. "But we took a lot of penalties in the second half and were forced to defend.

"They gave us a scare."

Sheridan, a first-year fly half from Bolton, ON, was good on all three conversion attempts in addition to his try. Hector was particularly impressed with third-year centre Kyle Lagasca, who was a presence defending and in attack.

"He broke the line often and was excellent covering in defence," Hector said of the Toronto, ON native.

The defending OUA champion Gryphons hope to keep their perfect record intact when they host the Brock Badgers at Varsity Field Saturday, Sept. 23. Match time is 6 pm.