The Durham Lords men’s rugby team is back-to-back Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) gold medal champions.
The Lords defeated the Georgian Grizzlies 22-17 in the championship final in Barrie Nov. 10.
“My expectations were to win for sure. We knew that we had all the tools to do it and that if we stuck to our game, the win was ours,” says Lords’ player Ty Jacob.
Jacob was honoured as the OCAA scoring champion and an OCAA East all-star for the second year in a row.
The Lords are now 14-3 in their two seasons, making them one of the best post-secondary rugby programs in the country.
“The feeling of winning back-to-back was amazing. Not many people get to go to two finals, let alone win both of them,” Jacob adds.
At the half, the Lords were up 12-7, both teams scored 10 points in the second half, giving Durham the victory.
The Grizzlies began to add pressure to the Lords at the end of the game, but with the Lords ready to win it all, they knocked the ball out of play and that’s when they knew the medal was theirs.
“When I knew we were going to win I just wanted to celebrate with all my brothers. We worked very hard to get here and that made me a little emotional because I know each and every one of us put our bodies on the line to get that win,” Jacob says.
For team captain Malcolm Hooper winning consecutive titles is an amazing feeling. Even though he was out due to a broken leg suffered during the regular season and couldn’t play in the championship game, he was on the sideline supporting the team.
“We knew from day one that on paper, we had the talent to win another OCAA championship, but we needed everyone to play their game effectively,” says Hooper.
Even though the game was in Barrie, and the weather was cold, the Lords had a large fan base watching them claim the gold medal.
Comments