Rugby has slow start but finishes season strong

The seventh and eighth-grade rugby team plays Knights Templar on January 19. Five players from ASL participate in a scrum with five players from Knights Templar. Seventh grader Owen Humphries waits outside of the scrum to receive the ball. The final score of this game was 4-2, Knights Templar (photo by Addie Griggs).

This season 20 grade seven and eight students signed up to ruck, scrum and tackle on the middle school rugby team. To start the season, many of the students had never played rugby, but as the season went along, each and every one of them had improved in some way, shape, or form.

The regular season record for the grade 8 team was 1-2, and at the LSSA end of season festival they went 0-2-1. The seventh grade went 1-2 in the regular season, and at the LSSA festival they went 1-2.

A mixed seventh and eighth-grade team had a strong first game but couldn’t clinch the victory, losing 4-2 the Knights Templar on January 19. After this game, the team realized what they needed to improve on and started to do that immediately.

The team got very unlucky with injuries. The two teams combined had three broken limbs consisting of Zein Blanks and Owen Humphries breaking their arms, and Bertie Cassidy breaking his thumb. Injuries also consisted of concussions. Three people had concussions: Bertie Cassidy, Carson Kay, and Tommy Farrell. All these injuries led people to miss some important games.

The eighth grade’s second game was against ACS Cobham and they were outmanned and out paced losing 10-3 on February 9. After that game, the eighth-grade really understood how to work more as a team and what the team’s playing style was. The seventh grade also lost to Cobham that day which they too learned from.

When PE teacher Patrick Severijns stepped in and replaced Ian Matthews, the whole team’s morale went up a notch and the team started to enjoy their rugby more. With the team’s morale higher and the team working more and more as a family the eighth-grade team went on to beat Hillingdon 12-5. The seventh grade also won that day.

About Bertie Cassidy ('21)

Sports Editor (2016-2017)

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