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Enjoying the game of rugger
Rams and Stampeders gain experience at St. George's Fields
May 10, 2023
By Rob J. Ross
THAMES CENTER, Ont. - Valuable game experience was gained by both the Parkside Stampeders and St. Joseph's Rams rugby programs at a tournament this week at St. George's fields.
Both Parkside and St. Joe's girls' teams went 2-1, in their tournament May 9, while the Stampeders' boys were 1-2 on May 10.
"As a team we played really well and probably did one of our best games yet. We were placing our tackles and overall as a team we're well organized," said Aleah Penner, who scored twice for Parkside, in a 15-0 win over Sarnia Northern. "Rosie played really well and probably her best game too."
That would be fellow Grade 10 player, Rosie McCaw, who scored a try (five points) and had several tackles.
Tessa Pellerine and Maddy Chute scored in the Stampeders' opening 10-0 shutout of London John Paul II. Chute had the Stamp's try in a 10-5 loss to Blessed Trinity, from North York.
"They were all really good teams and we can learn something from every game," said Pellerine, co-captain, with Julie Boyko. "There are a lot of good takeaways from our game and we did a lot of great things and there's still things we can work on. Coming up as a team and keeping each other's paces. We're only as fast as our slowest player, so we need to keep up. We need to always keep that in mind."
Parkside, 2-1, in Thames Valley Regional Athletics Association (TVRA) regular season action, host London Lucas, May 18, at 8 p.m.
St. Joe's won their first two games, before falling to Chatham Ursuline via a shutout.
Hayley Ross, Christine Annett and Nadia Vanasseldonk, each had a try, in a 20-5 win against Stratford. A fourth try was awarded to St. Joe's, due to needless foul play by Stratford.
The Rams got by Lucas, 10-5, with Vanasseldonk and Kendra Sheeler scoring.
"We played some super strong teams and played awesome," Vanasseldonk said. "We were proud that our forwards got us yards and our backs used the field a lot to get the other teams defense moving."
Next up for St. Joe's, is hosting the TVRA girls A/AA final against Woodstock Collegiate, noon Tuesday May 16.
"We are very excited to head into TVRA finals against WCI, but a bit nervous and got lots of stuff to work on," said Vanasseldonk.
The winner moves on to WOSSAA A/AA, May 25, hosted by the Huron-Perth conference.
Parkside's boys were 1-2 on their day.
Laiden Unwin had a pair of trys and Tyler Dale and Owen Rycroft one each, in a win against John Paul II.
Liam Learn and Coby Scanlan scored in a close 18-12 loss to Doyle high school, out of Cambridge.
Walkerton blanked Parkside, 10-0.
The Stampeders return to TVRA action, hosting London Laurier, May 15 at 3 p.m. and John Paul II, May 17, 3 p.m.
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