A little longer than a month after the end of the most successful year in the history for the university’s rugby program, the women’s team returned to competitive play in a Rugby Sevens tournament.
Rugby Sevens is a contemporary version of the sport developed in recent years. It’s the format used in Olympic games–each team has only seven players on the field compared to the typical 15 of rugby union.
The games consist of two seven minute halves which make for fast, explosive play.
During Rugby Sevens tournaments,teams play three to five games in a day. Queen’s University, the University of Ottawa (U of O) and Carleton each brought two 15-player teams to the tournament.
Coach Pat Thompson said the tournament was a good way for the players to practice their skills.
“That’s our approach. We look at this as a way to get better at some of areas to work on and areas of need,” she said at the the tournament. “We look at the core skills of rugby – our tackling, our passing, our breakdown – and just have the opportunity to practice that in a game.”
RSEQ First Team All Star Maya Addai said the tournament was a chance to tighten up her game.
“When you go in by yourself [for a tackle] in sevens, you have to be sure you can get there,” she said. Because you don’t have the same kind of support, so you need to be sure.”
The team will need practice before the next RSEQ season because it has restructured its divisions into a top and bottom tier.
The top tier includes Carleton, Université de Sherbrooke, the U of O, and Université Laval.
The top tier teams—last year’s four playoff teams—will now play each other twice next season, once at home and once away—instead of just once as they have in previous years.
The changes have been made as part of an effort to increase the competition between opponents and create growth in the league.
Addai thinks the new format is a daunting challenge, but one the team will take on together.
“This is so good for team bonding. We already spend all our time together time together, but this is capitalizing on this and making it ten times better,”she said. “These girls are my family.”
Photo by Tim Austen
