The SAS senior boys rugby team may have lost the AAA Okanagan Championship to Kelowna Secondary School, but they made history for Salmon Arm Secondary.
For the first time in 20 years, the SAS Golds rugby team made it into the provincial rugby championship.
The Okanagan AAA Championship match was played in the pouring rain in Kelowna, which definitely suited Kelowna Owls’ tactical style of rugby. The weather played a huge factor against the Golds who came out fired up and raring to play. The Golds’ ball-handling and off-loading was nowhere near as successful as it was against Mount Boucherie in the semi-final match.
The Owls’ hard-hitting play caused the Golds to suffer a few injuries. Starting flanker Logan Christian was out early due to injury, as was Nic Ough.
Hitting the rucks and mauls hard in an effort to maintain possession were Jimmy Picul and Kevin Alexander.
Once the ball from scrum-half Nathan Hampton made it to Brandon Sanford, the Golds gained great yards from runners like Jase Robert and Cody Jordan.
Sanford linked up with Devon Roper for the Golds’ only score of the match in the final 10 minutes of the game. The final score was 46-5 for Kelowna.
Despite the tough loss, the Golds found out early Friday that they got into the provincials, taking the wild-card berth in AAA tier two. The Golds’ first game is on Wednesday, May 25 against ninth-ranked Terry Fox in Abbotsford.
The SAS girls rugby team is ranked fifth in B.C. and will also be going to provincials. The Jewels earned a bye into the provincials with their record and will face some tough opposition from the coast in Kamloops on May 26 to 28.
