High school rugby action hit the pitch running Friday as teams from across the Kootenays gathered at Upper Sunningdale Park for the second play day of the season.
The combined Rossland Secondary – J. L. Crowe junior team started the day off against Grand Forks. Grand Forks got out to an early lead with an unconverted try, while Rossland-Crowe lost a player to a red card for a dangerous tackle.
Both teams struggled to hold onto the ball in the wet conditions. But the juniors persevered and tied things up in the second half with a try by Alex Stanton. However, with the game on the line, the conversion hit the post, leaving the host team with a 5-5 tie.
The combined Rossland-Trail-Grand Forks senior team then played rival Nelson but the visitors jumped out in front early with two trys in the first half and added another in the second. The R-T-GF seniors played a solid defensive game but could not muster any scoring, losing the game 17-0.
The juniors faced Kimberley in their second match and after handing the East Kootenay team a thumping last week, the Rossland-Crowe squad delivered more of the same. The juniors put up trys in the first half by Derek Reimer, Stanton and Mackenzie Gibson, all converted due to excellent kicking by Julian Zimmer. The boys got into penalty trouble and conceded a try before the end of the first half, but returned in the second with two more trys by Cody Shaw and Evan Kulik to win the game 33-5.
In the last game of the day, the seniors faced off for the first time this year against Cranbrook. Cranbrook jumped out to an early lead, but the seniors responded with a converted try of their own, off a brilliant end-to-end run by Luke Reimer.
The big Cranbrook side preferred to run the ball, making for a hard-hitting match filled with strong tackling. In the second half, Mackenzie Gibson scored a try off a broken Cranbrook scrum but Cranbrook responded.
The local squad made good on their conversions and that was the difference as R-T-GF boys won 14-10.
