The Toronto Varsity Blues men's rugby team completed a remarkable comeback victory on Saturday (Oct. 5) afternoon, taking down the Trent Excalibur 34-33.

Trent came out of the gates strong, picking up three tries and two conversions in the first 20 minutes to take what appeared to be a commanding 19-0 lead.

Toronto began chipping away when Quinn Reynolds scored the first try of the game for the Blues at the 21-minute mark. The two teams traded tries before the end of the first half, making the score 26-12 in favour of the Excalibur, with Ruaidhri Neville adding the second score for the Blues.

Trent scored again five minutes into the second half, but that did not deter the Blues approach. Toronto responded with tries in the 65^th, 71^st, and 76^th minute to cut the deficit to just two points, with Tyler Lane, Eric Vann, and Neville scoring, respectively. Yuta Takahashi was successful on two of three possible conversions.

The Blues had all of the momentum as time wound down in the game, and applied pressure to Trent with support from the passionate home crowd. With no time left on the clock, Takahashi walked off the Excalibur with a perfectly placed penalty goal kick to seal the comeback for the Blues, giving them a 34-33 win, coming all the way back from a 26-5 deficit in the first half.

"We came out of the gates too slow and we let people dictate to us a little bit," said Varsity Blues men's rugby head coach Josh Allan. "I think the boys figured that out towards the end and the belief crept in and once we get scoring, we can keep scoring. It was a great comeback."

With this win, the Blues improve to 3-2 on the season, while the Excalibur fall to 1-3. This third consecutive win guarantees men's rugby's best finish since the 2002 season when they went 5-1.

The Blues close out the regular season when they host the Western Mustangs on Saturday, October 19. Game time at Varsity Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.