The Smithers high school boys and girls rugby teams travelled to Kamloops last weekend for their first major tournament of the 2014 spring season.
The girls team had a strong weekend, finishing undefeated with a 2-0-1 record.
“They did very well, especially since it was their first game action of the year,” head coach Cobus Jonker said.
The girls started out with a 17-5 win over Vanderhoof.
They were exceptionally good at winning both line outs and scrums, which led to some offensive rushes the other way.
Winger Tyana Kearney score two tries and fullback Ashley Cocklin added a third.
Game two versus Kamloops was more tightly contested.
Again, it was Kearney and Cocklin leading the way with the first two tries and Shelby Anderson adding a third.
Kamloops stayed in it, but a conversion proved the difference in the Smithers 17-15 win.
Game three against LV Rodgers was a defensive battle. Kearney and Cocklin each scored tries for the third straight game, but LV Rodgers added two of their own. Neither team was able convert and the game finished in a 10 all draw.
“We played classic rugby,” Jonker said.
“The forwards played hard and got to the breakdowns first. We dominated the line outs, scrums and rucks.”
Lock and jumper Megan Borret and Hannae Kerr showed strong chemistry in this first game together and inside centre Steph Wilson defended well.
The boys didn’t fare quite as well, but they were also dealing with a short bench throughout the tournament.
Hooker Matt Carrier converted two long penalties in their first game against South Kamloops, but the Gryphons fell 21-2 in the end.
Their second game was another tough offensive outing. The boys went scoreless against Clearwater, but played strong defence in a 17-0 loss.
In their final game of the tournament, the boys found the offence. Again it was Carrier providing the spark, with two converted tries.
“Many of the players were still recovering from winter sports injuries,” Jonker said. “We also had some key players that sustained injuries while preparing in the school gym. Hopefully that will be a thing of the past with the new field we are building.”
The team is still practicing inside the SSS gym, which makes it difficult to work on scrums and line outs, but they are hoping to get onto the SSS field shortly.
Coaches are currently in the process of scheduling a home tournament for May 9-10, which would see boys and girls teams from Williams Lake, Vanderhoof, Terrace, Houston and Burns Lake come to town to compete.