Banff rugby is hitting its stride at exactly the right moment, as they trounced the Calgary Irish 47-26, Saturday (Aug. 27) at the Calgary Rugby Union field.
Yet the rugby boys are now in a race against the calendar, as they must make up two games in the next two weeks before playoffs begin.
“The boys played with a lot of heart and played well most of the game. We disrupted a lot of their balls and got the team on the back of their feet, which gave room on defence,” said player manager Mark ‘Hoops’ Hooper.
Fernley Simmonds scored three tries for Banff, while Tom Bremner, Steve Lower, Simon McDonald and Hooper added singles during the onslaught.
“We spread our scoring across the board. The effort was pretty consistent and we had really nice hands on the plays,” Hooper said.
While the prolific offence exploded for one its best matches of the season, the front line, including Brad Brewer and Cody Skrine, held up admirably.
“They did a lot of the grinding work that goes unnoticed, but is important,” Hooper said.
September is typically the cruelest month for Banff, as they lose many players to school and travel. Coupled with the fact a few players are travelling to New Zealand this year to watch the rugby world cup, Banff could struggle with player numbers.
“Even though we were missing players, it was great to see the team gel,” Hooper said.
Saturday’s game was no different as several players were no shows.
“It was looking desperate Friday night as we only had 14 players, but we were able to get two more out,” Hooper said. “It’s nice to win by 20 odd points, but it was disheartening to have so few players.”
With three weeks until the playoffs, Hooper will focus on keeping more players with the team.
“We’re confident we’ll get into the playoffs, but it will be interesting to see who we have once we’re in the playoffs. I have to beg, borrow and steal to get players to come out,” Hooper said.
Once in the playoffs, Hooper admits they’ll be hard pressed to defend their back-to-back southern division championships due to the loss of players, however, he knows the group is capable of making good things happen.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position to give ourselves that chance at the three-peat,” Hooper said.
The team wants to schedule a game this weekend in Banff against Medicine Hat to make up for a previously cancelled match. If the game goes ahead, it will take place at 1:30 p.m. at the Banff Rec Grounds.
The playoffs begin Sept. 24.
