The Dalhousie men’s rugby club buried its competition on Sept. 8, winning all three of their home opener games to end orientation week.
With growing interest from the student body, Dalhousie’s rugby club hit a milestone boasting over 100 players and three separate teams.
Club president Patrick Spiteri looks back on these games as a strong start to a season and was blown away to see 70 different players march out onto the pitch wearing a black and yellow kit. Spiteri noted this could be a record for Atlantic Canadian rugby.
“For our first game it was a great showing,” said Spiteri.
This was also the first game where Adam Anshan was the head coach of the club, replacing Tim Hart over the summer. Spiteri was impressed by the newcomer.
“Our coaching staff has done a great job of getting our skills to par and introducing a great system,” Spiteri said.
Spiteri was dazzled by the new group of Tigers, who for many of them were playing their first games at Dalhousie, a feat which should not be understated. Some of these first-year students include Keagan Dalton, Charlie Thurtell, Kolby Wood, Daniel Fallows and Isaac Misener.
“[It’s] very exciting to see such a bright future with so many good players beginning their university rugby career,” Spiteri said.
A three game rugby marathon
This year’s brand new development team, consisting of players not selected for division one or two, met up against the Halifax Barbarians, a local club team at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The Tigers and Barbarians traded blows but in the second half, the young Dal squad’s speed became too much for the Barbarians. After 60 grueling minutes Dalhousie came away with a 39-21 win.
Following the win, the coaching staff called both remaining teams to the field for an action packed afternoon against St. Francis Xavier University.
The X-Men came down from Antigonish, N.S. with both their division one and two teams to face off against the Tigers on an overcast and slippery Wickwire Field. The division one side would kick off the double-header between the teams.
At 3 p.m. players lined up against each other and awaited the whistle from the referee to initiate the game. Once the whistle rang through the ears of the fly-half, the ball was launched into the air and full chaos broke out.
Once the referee called the game, Dal had put up an impressive 45 points compared to StFX’s 11.
For the final event, the division two sides raced out to the field, where the beaten and bruised division one players cheered on their clubmates from the sideline.
Playing through the Sunday afternoon rain, Dalhousie came out on top with a final score of 39-5. This win officially solidified the attitude of the men’s rugby team for their season ahead.
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