Earlier this year, rugby fans packed Vancouver鈥檚 BC Place to see international teams do battle in the stripped-down, time-shortened version of the sport known as rugby sevens.
On Sunday, 麻豆社国产got its own tourney, as Quest University played host to a sevens tournament, with the men鈥檚 team taking on the 麻豆社国产Axemen and teams from Camosun College and Capilano University.
鈥淭his is an exciting time for Quest,鈥� said Sean Carter, who has been helping coach the women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 players. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e building a rugby program.鈥�
The university鈥檚 athletic director, Jean-Francois Plouffe was thrilled with the event and the participation of the visiting teams.
鈥淭his is a milestone event for us,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 blown away.鈥�
He has been happy that more people are turning out for sporting events and is planning on more events for the university to participate with the 麻豆社国产community.聽
The women鈥檚 team was making its competitive debut against three teams coming from UBC.聽
The players were in tough against the seasoned Thunderbird players and couldn鈥檛 generate their offence, but for the players, four of whom had never played a match before, it was a chance to work on skills like tackling and passing against seasoned opponents.聽
The team played off against UBC development players (mostly from the elite sevens team) and ended the tournament in fourth place.
Helping guide Quest players along have been coaches Carter, Kimmy Styles and the Axemen鈥檚 Alex Boyd.
鈥淭hese women are showing great enthusiasm,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淭hey held onto the ball, they played well, they went forward.鈥�
Captain Alexandra Schuster started women鈥檚 rugby at Quest, along with her roommate Katie Alexandre, and she knew the tourney would be a good test for the team, especially the brand-new players.
鈥淭he hardest part about rugby is commitment,鈥� she said.
She is optimistic about the prospects for the sport at the school, especially as it has grown from the ground up.
鈥淭he cool thing about rugby, it鈥檚 all been a student initiative,鈥� she said.
As far as the tournament鈥檚 origins, Colin Wilt from Quest started putting together the event in early November, intending to be a relaxed affair, at least by rugby standards, but still providing plenty of action.
鈥淲e thought it would be great to have a friendly tournament,鈥� he said.聽
The men鈥檚 team has hosted smaller tourneys before, but Sunday was the most organized competition held on Quest鈥檚 turf. The men are showing some signs of progress on the rugby pitch. In the round robin portion, they evened out their lifetime record to two wins apiece against the 麻豆社国产Axemen. They lost to Capilano but beat the visitors from Camosun and finished the day in second, with a 2-2 record.聽
Rugby started at the university several years ago as an informal, intramural sport, but the men have been competing in more organized matches of late.
The hope now is to get more women out to bring the sport beyond the intramural level and into varsity athletics and perhaps even men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 teams for traditional 15-aside rugby.
鈥淓ventually, we鈥檙e going to try to build a 15s program,鈥� Wilt said.
