Bringing home bronze

Times Reporter   

 

The Strathmore High School Spartans rugby teams hosted provincials at the Calgary Rugby Union June 6-7. This was the second go at provincials for the girls, who last had a chance to vie for a provincial spot four years ago. 

“The weekend went awesome, it was crazy busy. We had almost 1,000 participants and over 1,600 spectators, so it was a huge event,” said girls coach Jerry Flaws. 

“We definitely need to thank the parents, the staff, the students who all volunteered countless hours out there to make that happen.”

The games started out good with Flaws saying that the girls played awesome. The first game was against Beaumont and the girls took it 26-8. The second game was against the number one team in the province F.P. Walshe.

“We were only down 10 in the half and we stuck with them, and stuck with them and then they kind of blew the doors out in the end. Then we played Springbank again in the bronze medal game and our girls wanted it more. The teams are fairly close but our girls were hungry and they weren’t going to be beat,” said Flaws. 

The girls took the bronze medal, and making the victory even sweeter is the fact that the week before they had lost to Springbank in zones, so redemption was had. 

This is the first time the girls rugby team has medaled at provincials, something Flaws is very proud of.

“Our Grade 12’s have worked very hard for three years to get to this point, so I’m very excited that we came off,” said Flaws. 

Nine of the girls are graduating this year, but Flaws still has a good core for next year’s team with the 17 remaining players. 

One thing he attributes to the success of the team this year is bringing Keenan Fanning on board as another coach. He worked specifically with the backs and, Flaws said, the backs are brilliant; they ran plays that the girls had never had before, they ran plays in the backs that worked.