GUELPH, Ont. – Saturday afternoon at Varsity Field in Guelph, the No. 6-nationally ranked Gryphons women's rugby team improved to 2-0 on the season with a convincing 38-7 win over the visiting Brock Badgers.
 
It had been 722 days since the Guelph Gryphons women's rugby team last played a match on home soil. With the 2020 season cancelled due to the pandemic, the Gryphons finally took the field for what was the first women's rugby game at Varsity Field in nearly two years, with the last game coming on Oct. 11, 2019 (when Guelph rolled over McMaster 77-24 in OUA semi-final action). Saturday's matchup versus Brock saw the Gryphons get off to a strong start, with Kendra Cousineau opening the scoring with a 12th minute try. Cousineau also accounted for four converts on the day to finish the afternoon with 9 points to her name. In the 20th minute, Gryphons fifth-year winger Hannah Beaumont would touch down for her first of a three tries on the day, with the Hillsburgh, Ontario native also scoring in 39th and 46th minute marks. Standout fullback Talia Hoffman (Stoney Creek, ON) added a pair of tries in what was another impressive team performance by the Gryphons.
 
"We keep emphasizing to our players to try to push the pace of the game, and I thought they did a great job of that today," says Colette McAuley, now in her 15th season as head coach of the Gryphons women's rugby program. "Our timing and execution will get better the more games we play. Defensively, we were strong. There were very few gaps for Brock to take advantage of, and the overall work rate of our players was excellent, especially Adea Elliot."
 
The Gryphons are now 2-0 on the four-game OUA regular season, with a much-anticipated home matchup with the Queen's Gaels coming up next weekend (Saturday, Oct. 9 – 3pm). The Gryphons and Gaels have met up in each of the past three OUA gold medal matches, with Queen's winning the conference title in 2019, following Gryphon victories in the OUA title game in both 2017 and 2018. The Gryphons and Gaels are currently the No. 6 and No. 2-ranked teams in the country heading into next weekend's showdown at Varsity Field. Tickets for the game are free of charge, but fans must head to the Gryphons ticketing site to confirm their spot due to capacity limitations.