VANCOUVER – A last-minute penalty conversion from
Matthew Willemse (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) sealed a 23-22 victory over No. 1-ranked Victoria in Trinity Western's debut at the Canadian University Men's Rugby Championships at Thunderbird Stadium on Wednesday.
With this victory, the Spartans qualify for the national semi-final match against McGill University. The game will be played at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Thunderbird Stadium.
Willemse led TWU with 13 points as two tries from
Tamilore Awonusi (Dublin, Ireland) rounded off the historic victory for the Spartans in their first-ever appearance at nationals.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Vikes opened the scoring with an 11th minute try, and it was a lead they weren't to give up until the final kick of the game. Holding a narrow 15-10 advantage at the half. Victoria extended their lead to 12 with an early try in the second half, but Trinity Western never gave up and launched a stunning late comeback.
Ethan Hager led the scoring for the Vikes with an eight point haul after a try and a penalty. Ethan Smith and Shane Rikley-Krindle also scored tries for the Vikes, with Logan Martin-Feek adding two conversions.
Awonusi's late try led to the Spartans retaining the ball. A UVIC penalty awarded Willemse with a converted penalty, marking a 23-22 victory for Trinity Western.
Scoring Plays
First Half
UVIC - Try, Ethan Hager (Convert unsuccessful) 11' 5-0
UVIC - Penalty Convert, Ethan Hager 16' 8-0
TWU - Try,
Tamilore Awonusi (Matt Willemse convert) 21' 8-7
UVIC - Try, Ethan Smith (Logan Martin-Feek convert) 27' 15-7
TWU - Penalty Convert, Matt Willemse 29' 15-10
Second Half
UVIC - Try, Shane Rikley-Krindle (Logan Martin-Feek convert) 39' 22-10
TWU - Penalty Convert, Matt Willemse 43' 22-13
TWU - Try,
Scott Bowers (Matt Willemse convert) 56' 22-20
TWU - Penalty Convert, Matt Willemse 60' 22-23
QUOTABLE
Andrew Evans – Director of Rugby
"That's the biggest win I've ever been a part of, and I've been playing and coaching rugby since 1996. These men who won today started 3.5 years ago, so starting from the bottom, taking a lot of losses against the very best from the beginning. We had an opportunity against the number one team today, and we were faithful in the hard work and talent that the squad has. We remain humble, acknowledging that the Vikes are a great team, but this is a big win for us.
"We spoke about momentum leading into the game. We wanted to get inside their red-zone and come away with points, so keeping it simple and working together as a team was key. We didn't quite use our gameplan throughout the match – that made things a little difficult. We had composure, slowly believing in ourselves to score a few times since the margin of their lead wasn't massive.
"We have to give credit to
Matthew Willemse for making the game-winning kick. We tell the boys to back themselves, and he did that after missing a couple kicks early in the game.
Nate Schroeder (West Kelowna, B.C.) was dangerous, stopping a few tries. The Vikes are dangerous, so if Nate doesn't make those tackles, they're through for some more points.
Favour Olaniyan (Gibsons, B.C.) and
Ethan Bernardin (Langley, B.C.) also made a big impact as well."
NOTABLE
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
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