SHS rugby on the uprise

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore High School rugby teams are showing signs of improvement on the field, but there is still work to be done as the season goes on.
“We’re not pleased – we’ve lost three games. It’s difficult to take, but the opposition has some pretty strong teams. We have to play smart, controlled rugby and keep control of the ball and should be able to score,” said head coach Brad Steele. “We need to control our ball in contact, we’re (weaning) the ball out of the scrums and set plays. If we can keep the ball and win our rucks, we’ll score tries.”
Steele believes his team is getting better every game.
“The new players are figuring it out and other ones are stepping it up, we’re just half way through and hopefully we’ll improve,” said Steele.
Girls head coach Jerry Flaws admits that his team still needs to gain confidence on the field.
“We need them a little more involved because they’re not sure and won’t commit,” said Flaws. “I think we move the ball really well. When we do have the ball, we keep control of it fairly well but we don’t play good defense yet.”
However, there are other areas where practice time is needed.
“We just need to clean up our passes, we need more ball times practices. Right now we’re spending time on defense and offense, all of our practices have been positioning, so we have to get to the fundamentals now,” said Flaws.
The girls made the trip to Smith Falls, Ont., from April 23-28 and Flaws is hoping the trip will further enhance the players.
“We’ll be working with the university coaches while we’re down there, so they’ll get some good exposure to rugby,” said Flaws. “I know Smith Falls was a little worried from our provincial results last year. We can be that team but we got to work at it together to get back there.”
It has been noticed by many that SHS’s field is hard and has caused injuries. The athletics department is looking for the school division to make improvements to the chewed up surface.