Despite suffering a tough loss on Wednesday the coach of the St. Albert women’s premier rugby team still felt positive about the performance.
On Wednesday night the women faced off against the Strathcona Druids and suffered a 53-0 loss.
Coach Byron Elliott said that although the score was one sided, he thought that the team preformed well against the Druids.
“The result was definitely rough but as a performance it was much improved how we have been playing in previous weeks,” Elliot said. “I don’t feel physically it was as one sided as it suggested.”
The match started with the opposition scoring two quick tries out of the gate and getting a fast 14-0 lead on the home team. SARFC pushed back with several attacking opportunities driven by captain Michelle Marler but the team couldn’t deliver.
By half time the home team was down 24-0.
In the first half of the game Elliott said he was pleased they kept the scoring to the outside.
Elliott said that once the score of the game got away from them, the team decided to take the opportunity to try out some new game strategies.
“If you’re down thirty-odd points to nil, why not try something outside the box?” Elliott said.
During the second half the Druids scored a few through the middle but they scored while the SARFC squad was trying a few new plays.
Elliott said that the team had improved their scrum line from previous weeks and had upped their offensive game overall.
“Defence had been a key focus of ours for a long time for a point of almost a distraction. We took the focus off it,” Elliott said. “I asked them to play with a bit of a chip on their shoulder today and aggression and they definitely did that.”
The matchup on Wednesday was one of their most difficult of the season. Elliott said the seventh place squad knew they would have trouble against the fourth place team and former league champions.
So far this season the team has struggled and has only pulled off one win against the third place Pirates, in June. Overall they have lost five games and had one draw.
Elliott said he was pleased that the squad was able to work less as individuals and focus more on a team effort.
“They just need to believe in themselves. If they perform like that against the Pirates and the Clan and the teams we have moved up with, it would be a different kind of season,” Elliott said.
The next matchup for the St. Albert squad is on Friday, July 14 against the last place Clan. So far the Clan have no wins this season. The two teams have faced off once already this year and the match ended in a 22-22 draw. The game starts at 7 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
