There were 40 games of rugby played at the inaugural Cariboo Rugby Sevens Invitational in 100 Mile House.
Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School’s Eagles rugby program hosted schools from across the Interior including Barriere Secondary School, Houston Secondary School, Caledonia Secondary School, Vanderhoof’s Nechako Valley Secondary School, Prince George’s College Heights Secondary School, Prince George Senior Secondary School, Kamloop’s NorKam Secondary School and Brocklehurst Secondary School. Rugby coach Kameron Taylor said organizing the event was a lot of work but it paid off for him and his team.
“We had nine plaques made and 100 Mile took home five of those, which is very cool,” Taylor said. “On the championship day we had 200 to 300 people watching those championship games. Rugby is growing (in this town) for sure and I love seeing the impact it has on the community, the players, teachers and all the volunteers.”
To host the tournament Taylor made use of both PSO’s rugby field and the fields at the old 100 Mile Junior Secondary School site, with a concession running at both fields. The Eagles fielded two teams of senior boys, two teams of junior boys, a senior girls team amalgamated with players from College Heights and a junior girls team. Taylor said he broke the boys teams up so they could all play more rugby and show off their skills.
“There was no A Team of B Team, I just mixed them on purpose so they would have really great rugby. It made it competitive and it made them work as a team with players they don’t usually play with very much,” Taylor said.
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Throughout the tournament, Taylor said the senior boys played a strong game but ultimately a few mistakes here and there led to them taking second and third, with the Vanderhoof Vikings taking home gold. Taylor remarked his players should hold their heads high, noting he could see them improve each game.
In junior boys competition, both 100 Mile One and 100 Mile Two made it to the finals and played one another. Taylor said it was a close game with 100 Mile Two winning by only seven points. Brocklehurst ultimately took third place in the division.
The performance of the senior girls team was especially surprising, Taylor noted. Despite playing with teammates they had never played with before, Taylor said the mixed team went on to win every one of their games.
“You saw the chemistry building after each game. I said ‘what kind of rugby am I watching?’ It almost looked higher than high school rugby, everyone knew their assignments and it was just poetry in motion to watch that,” Taylor said, noting NorKam and Vanderhoof’s senior girls took second and third.
For the junior girls category, Taylor said they didn’t have enough teams to run a proper tournament. However, 100 Mile’s girls still got a chance to have a jamboree weekend playing against Vanderhoof’s. While they lost every game, Taylor said throughout the weekend his team lost by fewer and fewer points showing that the girls were learning the value of a strong defence.
Taylor said the invitational was made possible by the work of volunteers and seven certified referees who reffed each game. Together they were able to keep injuries largely to a minimum, though there were still a few as is to be expected from a contact sport.
While the tournament ended up being a great success, Taylor’s not committing just yet to hosting a follow-up next year. He noted again how much work it took to organize the tournament, coach the teams and also serve as referee for several of the games.
For now, Taylor plans to focus on preparing his teams for Zones in Williams Lake on May 10 and 11. He’s hoping that both the senior boys and senior girls teams will make it to provincials, as they have for the last two years.
“I’m going to be training them hard to battle in Zones because ultimately the goal is to win Zones to even consider provincials,” Taylor said. “We’re going to be doing a lot of individual skill training to develop our players and build our roster.”