Rebels rugby dominant at tournaments

By Greg Price
Taber Times
gprice@tabertimes.com

The momentum keeps building for the W.R. Myers Rebels girls rugby program, as its season nears its end.

The victories kept piling up in hugely successful tournaments for both the varsity and junior varsity teams this past weekend.

The varsity team was in Edmonton at Ross Sheppard where it won matches 38-0, 80-0 and 31-0.

“The opposition up in Edmonton obviously isn’t as strong as it is here in southern Alberta. That has become pretty obvious,” said Andrew Llewelyn-Jones, co-coach with the W.R. Myers Rebels girls rugby program. “The team had a good weekend, but I’m pretty sure they would relish going to a competition like that and getting stiffer competition from the teams to test their abilities.”

The junior varsity Rebels went to the University of Lethbridge and won three out of four games on the weekend.

The first game was a 10-5 loss to Vulcan.

“It seemed like the girls didn’t come out of the blocks very well. We played Vulcan, and it was a team we beat during the season quite easily. But, we couldn’t seem to get our games going,” said Llewelyn-Jones.

The team rebounded quite nicely with a 29-0 win over F.P. Walshe, a 5-0 victory over Chinook and a 17-0 win over Strathmore to deliver a trio of shutouts.

“We had tremendous tackling. As you can tell, even with the game we lost which was by one score and they scored that on the very last play of the game where they got a breakaway on the wing. The girls’ tackling was tremendous, they know how to keep the other team in check,” said Llewelyn-Jones. “The other teams, they were very rarely into our 22-metre zone because of our defensive strategy and tackling. The only disappointing part of this whole season to me, is we’ve only played two league games where we’ve played 15 a side. The rest have been shortened games because other schools don’t have the numbers. That doesn’t help a team grow. When you have shortened number of players, it’s tough to put plays in to work on, as a 15-side level.”

In league play, the Rebels dispatched Medicine Hat on the road with ease with lopsided scores.

“It was pretty much easy pickings. Medicine Hat is really in a development stage. They are rebuilding,” said Llewelyn-Jones.

The varsity squad won 79-0 and the junior varsity Rebels broke the 100-point barrier.

“They have a basis of a developing squad where they are doing mini rugby. I talked with their coach afterwards and told them we would do exhibition games with them as well to help build and develop their program,” said Llewelyn-Jones. “They have a program that has struggled the last couple of years, but they are putting the pieces together to rebuild. We’ve offered the chance at some exhibitions games against them. They did the same for us when we were developing, and I would like to reciprocate.”

The junior varsity squad returns to action at its home tournament on May 28 to conclude its season at Ken McDonald Memorial Sports Park. The varsity Rebels will meet the winner of Pincher Creek and Vulcan in the zone final at the U of L on May 30.