Girls' California Rugby Tour
The girls arrived home from an eight-day tour of Northern and Southern California. They played 3 games against U-19 club sides in Sacramento, Davis,and Alameda. The trip finished with a two-day tournament in Fullerton, a small community 10 minutes from Anaheim. We arrived in Sacramento late Saturday afternoon and headed out to Eldorado Hills where the girls met their billets over a pulled pork barbeque and some entertainment by the “Motherlode” girls. A great time was had and the girls headed off by 10 pm with their billets. We met up at the field for a 3pm kick-off Sunday under cool and rainy skies. The game was a back and forth affair, although the Shawnigan girls dominated the play for 80% of the game, which was the pattern throughout the tour. Handling errors and poor tackling gave us our first loss, 19-17. We finished the day with another barbeque. The hospitality and friendliness were outstanding, and the girls made some good connections. We later met Motherlode at the Fullerton tournament where once again we dominated the play and came up on the losing end of 5-0. Our next stop was in Davis after a day of sightseeing in Old Sacramento and UC Davis. We were more successful here with an easy win. At the half, we exchanged our back row and one or two backs with the “Lady Devils” and it made a more even contest. Again we were well hosted. Our next stop was Alameda, a small island just outside of San Francisco. We spent the day sightseeing in San Francisco and met our billets at a pizza restaurant in Alameda. The game was tough, but we managed to pull through with a 10-0 win. What we were discovering was the brand of rugby at this level was extremely physical. Our American friends were very committed to the tackle and strong on their feet. If you didn’t tackle them low, it was hard to stop them. We played with more finesse but at times struggled with their physicality. We were bruised and battered, but were standing up to the challenges. Again the warmth and friendliness was felt by all of us and we hope that we are able to repay the hospitality we received. Next stop was Fullerton at their annual tournament. The first day we played three shortened games, with the first two being difficult contests. As mentioned earlier, we met Motherlode and dropped a disappointing 5-0 game having dominated the play. A poor kick-off reception led to a lone try, and after that we hammered away at their goal-line, only to come up short at the final whistle. Once again their physical commitment proved too much for us. Our second game was much the same; we came out flat and, before we knew it, we were down 10-0 at the half. We played much better, but failed to put points on the board. Shortened games make it difficult to work your way out of trouble and this was the case. The remaining three games of the tournament were convincing wins and we finished winning the Plate Division.
Our unremarkable record of 5 wins and 3 losses doesn’t really tell the whole story. The purpose of the tour was to have experience with tough games to prepare us for the start of our competitive season, and this tour did just that. We know what we need to work on and how we will approach our season. This renewed commitment will lead this very good team to a successful season. I would like to congratulate the girls on the way they handled themselves throughout the tour both on and off the field. In particular, I would like to recognize Chloe W. and Rachel B. on their outstanding tour. You wouldn’t find two better back row players at this level and they demonstrated this every game.
– Mark Hall, Coach