A shorthanded Charles Hays Secondary School (CHSS) rugby team represented Prince Rupert well on the road, travelling to Williams Lake where they played in a series of sevens and 15-player games on April 27 and 28.
Both the school’s junior and senior players made the trip, where despite losing most of the games they played, showed a passion and intensity for the game that impressed their coach, Andy Enns.
“The results weren’t up on the scoreboard, but we had some great individual efforts and some great team efforts, that’s for sure,” he said.
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Enns said that spring is typically rugby season with 15 players on the field, but since a lot of the Rainmaker’s senior players were unavailable to play on the road trip, the senior games were either rugby sevens or a super squad 12-player game with a combination of CHSS and Terrace players who were picked up on the way to the playday.
Enns said the senior team was made up of mostly Grade 11 students who struggled against their older competition.
“My seniors had a tough time handling some of the more bigger experienced teams,” he said.
The seniors lost both of their sevens games to Williams Lake and Terrace before losing in a 12-player game to Williams Lake on the first day.
The junior teams fared better, going 2-1 in sevens on the first day of play and 1-1 on the second day. Enns said he was proud of this group, some of whom were playing contact rugby for the first time, and still learning the fundamentals of the game.
“The memories for those kids will be the catalyst that keeps them coming up for more games in the future,” he said.
The team next travels to Kitimat where they will participate in another rugby playday. Enns said he hopes to field a full team as zones approach.
“What I’d really like is to be able to activate some of our other players who were on the sideline,” he said. “Hopefully we can get some more numbers so they can play with the team and get better.”
matthew.allen@thenorthernview.com
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