London, ON - The Mustangs Men's Rugby team battled the defending OUA Champion Guelph Gryphons on Sunday afternoon and fell short of advancing, falling 36-24.

Both teams traded tries early on to tie the game at 7. The Gryphons would get some momentum on their side and wrangle off three straight tries to expand their lead up to 24-7 as the game got to the 30 minute mark of the first half.

Western would score an additional try before the end of the half to cut the Guelph lead to 24-12.

In the 2nd half the Gryphons caught momentum again early and often, scoring a try in the 10th & 27th minute to extend their lead to 36-12.

Western would battle in the last 10 minutes of the game, scoring 2 tries and adding a conversion but it wasn't enough to extend their season into the OUA Final.

"It was going to be tough, knocking off the defending champs, the nerves sort of showed early on but I think we settled down as the game went on but it was a little bit too late," said Mustangs Head Coach Ian McLeod "I'm so proud of this group, I think they exceeded even where I thought we would get to this season so kudos to them, they never quit and I think they thought they should be in the final and I think should be too but sometimes the ball doesn't roll your way,"

The Mustangs finish the 2022 season with 5-2 record including a four game win streak to finish the regular season.

"I think the future is really bright because we have some really good young players who have come on later in the season and have done a really good job for us," said McLeod "We're excited to see what the future holds but feel bad for the guys who are graduating this year because I think they deserved more,"