Behind fullback David Worsley’s 18 points, the men’s rugby team defeated the McMaster Marauders 33-12 on their own turf.

Wednesday’s season opener was between two of the OUA’s best teams — the Gaels were 7-1 last fall, while the Marauders were 6-2. The two teams last met in the OUA semi-final game, where the Gaels earned a 32-10 victory.

Gaels head coach Peter Huigenbos said the challenge of playing McMaster first thing on the road was one they’d been thinking of since the schedule was released in March.

“Mac is a very well-coached team and very dedicated bunch of players,” Huigenbos said. “I’ve been at Queen’s 16 years, and I don’t recall coming away with a win as good as this.”

The Gaels went up 15-0 after the first half with tries from Worsley and back Patrick Richardson. Worsley also scored three penalty goals and a conversion.

Dan Moor and Tim Richardson sealed the victory with tries in the second half.

Despite losing a few key players in the opening minutes of the game, McMaster continued to challenge the Gaels. The Marauders scored all 12 of their points in the second half, off of tries from Andrew Ferguson and Christopher Gordon.

“It definitely showed that they were missing a few guys, but they worked very hard,” Huigenbos said. “We really had to earn everything that we got.”

Fourth-year Brendan McGovern took the place of 2011 OUA leading scorer Liam Underwood, who’s currently finishing off a stint with the Ontario Blues men’s squad.Huigenbos said that McGovern excelled in controlling the tempo and territory against McMaster.

The Gaels will face the Laurier Golden Hawks at University Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m. Laurier fell 45-0 to the Guelph Gryphons in their season opener on Wednesday.