The Salmon Arm Secondary Jewels’ rugby squad took on Kelowna Secondary School April 4 to kick off the rugby season. The girls had a slow start, finishing the second half 2-0 for KSS. After half-time, however, the girls rocketed into place - evening out the score. One more try was scored by each team while the players on both sides cleverly found space and supported with tackling. KSS managed a fourth try in the last minutes, but the whistle blew to end the game with Salmon Arm at the edge of the KSS try-line: a close game for the girls, but they unfortunately lost 22-19.
Two tries were scored by Esita Qi’odraun after she broke through the opponent’s defences. A try was also scored by Lea Labranche; she also managed to secure two conversion kicks. Our defence was held up well, particularly Emily Reynolds and Brooklynn Stockbruegger, who stopped numerous try attempts with sensational tackling. Stockbruegger was the Salmon Arm MVP for her frequent protection of the try line.
The Jewels faced Penticton away on April 10 and travel to face Mount Boucherie April 12.
The SAS Senior Boys Rugby season started off with a lot of firsts. Driving to Semiahmoo for the Golds’ first time on grass, first time having a lot of room to run and play on a field, first time having only one grade 12 player, along with the first time playing rugby for six players.
The match was a bit of a wake up call for most since this was the provincial ranking game and the team is made up of grade 11’s. A great improvement happened in the second half for the Golds as things settled down.
Phillip Smith had an incredible game tackling Semiahmoo players before they got started. Lukus Brookes from second row had an impressive first game, being in the right place and attacking at the right time. Harper Hokenson played an impressive game at fullback, picking up loose balls and maintaining possession. Flanking Semiahmoo from the left was Nick Abel who started his first game of Rugby with a 2-4 reverse play, exceeding all expectations while Trystan Kenoras cut through the gap and came close to scoring.
Submitted by Greg Seed
@Jodi_Brak117
jodi.brak@saobserver.net
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