Tackling people, even if they are your teammates, sure beats the alternative for Acadia rugby veteran Amanda Jardine.
“I was setting up shampoo bottles on my deck and using them as target practice,” said the 32-year-old Jardine, a third-year fullback with the Axewomen, as she described part of her training regiment during the COVID-19 lockdown. “It was the longest time in 15 years that I hadn’t touched the ball.”
The cancellation of fall sports in the Atlantic university conference has prevented the four AUS women’s rugby teams – Acadia, St. Francis Xavier, Saint Mary’s and UPEI – from competing against each other.
But, as of Thursday, in accordance to public health guidelines, a maximum 50 athletes will be able to participate in organized sports without social distancing in the province, up from the previous limit of 10.
The X-Women’s Mike Cavanagh, a 12-time Atlantic university coach of the year recipient, calls the increase “a game changer.”
St. F.X. – instead of holding separate practices with groups of 10 only, which isn't exactly conducive for a 50-player rugby squad – will stage a four-team intra-squad league. Rosters will be 10 aside and games could be played on the turf at St. F.X. Stadium on Friday nights.
Cavanagh said without regular-season play, this is a best-case scenario.
“We’ll do round-robin games, play under the lights and we’ll make a trophy, the COVID Cup,” said Cavanagh, who has guided the X-Women to six U Sports national titles and 21 AUS banners.
“What made our teams so strong over the years is how hard we work at practices to get us ready for Saturday’s games. We need that competitiveness and we need to award the players for that. It’ll be great to get some competition in and work with a group of 50 instead of 10. It’s a game changer. We’re very grateful with how good of a job St. F.X. has done to make things safe.”
Cavanagh said his team will have an even split of 25 returning players and 25 rookies.
“It’s a good year to be doing this, a good year to develop players,” he said. “There’s no real pressure on them on the pitch.
“We’re going to use this to our advantage. The rookies will get to work on their skills. We have such a short season that a lot of times if you’re a freshman or second-year, you don’t get that time to work on skills as much as you’d like. This should help them take the next step forward.”
Hannah Ellis is one of those returnees in what could be her final varsity season. The fourth-year fly half from Halifax admitted she couldn’t wait to get out on the pitch and hit someone.
“I’m going to be even more competitive playing against teammates,” Ellis said with a laugh.
“It’s been kind of tough being a lost season. It’s been hard to get to know everyone. And my heart really goes out to the girls who were stripped of their last season.
“But after months and months without any sports, a lot of the girls were just excited to be back on the field even if it was restrictive,” added Ellis, who’s leaving the door open to playing a fifth season and completing a second degree.
“Now that they’re expanding it even more, we can have intra-squad games and we can all be together as a unit. We’re just happy to be playing rugby again.”
When the calendar turns to October, the AUS women’s rugby league has usually passed the halfway mark in its regular season.
Although it won’t conclude with the crowning of a conference champion, Acadia head coach Matt Durant is pleased his Axewomen can salvage something out of a lost season.
“I firmly believe if you want to get better at rugby you have to play rugby,” said Durant, in his 11th season at the helm. “This way, those rookies, as opposed to sitting on the bench and watching, will get more touches, compete in more drills and get more practice in without as many veterans competing for those spots than the traditional season.
“When people want to compete, it’s hard to get excited about training when you know there isn’t any competition coming up. It’s an entirely different situation that I have ever experienced in my 10-plus years with the program. It’s a much smaller group than what we’re used to and the overall complexion of the team is certainly not optimal.
“We’re trying to make the best out of an unfortunate circumstance.”
