Harry Collinge girls rocked their first rugby tournament of the season this month.
The Rockies hosted a rugby tournament May 16 on the Harry Collinge High School field, with teams from Grande Cache and Drayton Valley competing. Both girls’ and boys’ teams participated. While the girls won both of their games, the boys — who are in their first season — had the typical expansion team experience without a win.
Games were played with seven-a-side (sevens) rugby union rules. The girls’ team, in its third season this year, won their first game against Grande Cache Community High School 10–0. They went on to defeat Frank Maddock High School 15–5.
It was a fun festival competition and scores did not count towards any league standings.
“We’ve seen a significant improvement over the last year,” said coach Rebecca Turnbull, who also coached the girls’ team last year. “We had a lot of girls come back this year, whereas last year we only had three, maybe four girls who returned. This year we had seven or eight. It’s a lot easier to build a program and build success when you have players who return year after year.” The team roster is about 12 players. Most are in Grade 10 or 11.
“We have a lot of girls who are really fast, and a lot of girls who just think the game really well,” said Turnbull. “They understand how the game works and they’re able to exploit weaknesses in the other teams.” The Rockies have more confidence this year and can capitalize on their speed and tenacity, she added.
“They were both very good games,” Turnbull described. “Drayton Valley is a program that has existed for a long time and one of the programs that we really aspire to be like. So it was nice to see the girls have some success in their games against them.”
A development period in the afternoon combined all the schools together and split them into two co-ed squads of 15 players, for a friendly game of full rugby union.
The girls’ team next plays May 31 in Devon, another sevens tournament.
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