VICTORIA, B.C. – The UBC Thunderbirds captured their second-straight victory at the Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship presented by title sponsors, Victoria Mitsubishi and Carson Automotive Group, and corporate sponsors Pemberton Holmes Ltd. and the Canadian Rugby Foundation and ultimately a spot in the gold-medal game. The defending national champions secured a critical win over the Guelph Gryphons by a score of 34-7 on Nov. 22 at Wallace Field in Victoria, B.C.
 
Will Percillier had two tries, a penalty goal and two converts in the game for the Thunderbirds who led through the entire 60 minutes of the game. Cali Martinez, Daniel Archer and John Jubenvill also got on the scoresheet for the T-Birds.
 

"We played really well defensively today and did a great job when we had a ball in hand," said Thunderbirds head coach Curry Hitchborn. "Guelph is an excellent team. They are very well coached and came out aggressive today which made it difficult on us. We will need to improve on a lot of aspects of our game if we want to compete with our opponent on Sunday."
 
Andrew Douglas scored the lone try of the match for the Gryphons, who will now need to defeat Concordia on Friday if they want to contend for a medal this weekend.
 
"We knew coming into this match today that UBC was a powerhouse," said Cory Hector, head coach of the Gryphons. "The one-day turnaround will be tough but our game plan will remain the same but we will have to clean up the fine details and little things in our game if we want to be being for a medal on Sunday."
 

It took just two minutes for the Thunderbirds to score the game's first try. Scrum half Percillier found a hole off the UBC lineout and broke away down the sideline. The speedy second-year was caught just inside the Guelph 22-metre line but his run set up T-birds prop Martinez for a try in the corner just a few moments later. Immediately after the UBC try, Guelph had an opportunity to answer. Gryphons fly half Aria Keshoofy swung the ball out wide into the hands of winger Andrew Douglas but the Chippawa, Ont., native was tackled out of bounds by the last UBC defender.
 
Just a few minutes later, Douglas chased down his own kick to set up the Gryphons for a chance to tie up the game but with no support in the breakdown inside the UBC 10-metre line. The Thunderbirds turned the ball over in the ruck.
 
Penalties haunted the Gryphons throughout the first half. Most notably, a penalty taken deep inside their own 22-metre line resulted directly in a try for the Thunderbirds to increase their lead to 14-0 in the 12th minute.
 
Despite the penalty trouble, Guelph No. 8 Mitch Talbot managed to exploit a gap in the UBC line and rumbled down to just a few metres outside the T-Birds' end goal but a knock on resulted in a turn over in favour of the Thunderbirds.
 
Percillier added a penalty goal and Archer added a try before the half was over to give the Thunderbirds the 22-0 lead at the break.
 
The Gryphons finally broke free in the 32nd minute when Douglas found a gap and cruised 50-metres down the pitch for Gryphons' first try. That would be as close as Guelph would get as  UBC's Jubenvill and Percillier both got over the goal line in the second half to solidify a 34-7 victory.
 
The Thunderbirds will now have to wait and see who their opponent will be in Sunday's gold medal final at Centennial Stadium on Nov. 25 at 1 p.m. Guelph will need a victory over the Concordia Stingers on Nov. 23 to get a chance at the bronze medal.
 
Percillier was honoured as the player of the game for the Thunderbirds, while Marcello Wainwright got the nod for the Gryphons.
 
All games are streamed live on the Rugby Canada facebook page, while scores, recaps and more are available at govikesgo.com/rugby. To purchase tickets for the championship, visit govikesgo.com/tickets.
 
GAME MVPs
UBC: #9 Will Percillier
GUE: #7 Marcello Wainwright
 

?? MRUG | @ubctbirds take the game 34-7 over @guelph_gryphons and book their spot in the final! MVPs were @ubcrugby #9 William McDougall-Percillier and #7 Marcello Wainwright from Guelph #RugbyCA #Rugby15s pic.twitter.com/aFjdhdyiK9

— UVic Vikes (@uvicvikes) November 22, 2018

SCORING SUMMARY
                   1         2       F
GUE:          0         7       7
UBC:         22       12      34
 
FIRST HALF
2': UBC Try- #3 Cali Martinez (Convert Will Percillier) 7-0 UBC
12': UBC Try- #9 Will Percillier (Convert Will Percillier) 14-0 UBC
15': UBC Penalty Goal- #9 Will Percillier 17-0 UBC
22': UBC Try- #13 Daniel Archer (Convert Missed) 22-0 UBC
30': UBC Yellow Card- #4 James Carson
 
SECOND HALF
 
32': GUE Try- #14 Andrew Douglas (Convert Mario Vanderwesthuizen) 22-7 UBC
40': UBC Try- #12 John Jubenvill (Convert Missed) 27-7 UBC
57': UBC Try- #9 Will Percillier (Convert Will Percillier) 34-7 UBC
 
2018 CANADIAN UNIVERSITY MEN'S RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP
VICTORIA, B.C.
 
Wednesday, November 21
Pool A: UBC Thunderbirds (41) vs. Concordia Stingers (8)
Pool B: Queen's Gaels (76) vs. New Brunswick Ironmen (5)
 
Thursday, November 22
Pool A: UBC Thunderbirds (34) vs. Guelph Gryphons (7)
Pool B: Queen's Gaels (15) vs. Victoria Vikes (8)
 
Friday, November 23
Pool A: Guelph Gryphons vs. Concordia Stingers (4 p.m. – Centennial Stadium)
Pool B: Victoria Vikes vs. New Brunswick Ironmen (6 p.m. – Centennial Stadium)
 
Saturday, November 24
5th Place Game (2 p.m. – Wallace Field)
 
Sunday, November 25
Bronze Medal Game (11 a.m. – Centennial Stadium)
Gold Medal Game – UBC vs Queen's (1 p.m. – Centennial Stadium)