The Dauphin Clippers girls 7s rugby team are provincial champions.
After winning the Westman High School Rugby 7s championship, the Clippers were crowned the first-ever 7s provincial champions at the first-ever provincial tournament, Friday in Brandon.
The Clippers clinched the league title by going 3-0 in the final of four jamborees, Oct. 3, in Brandon, hosted by the Vincent Massey Vikings.
Dauphin finished with an overall record of 10-1-1 for 21 points, three better than runners-up Crocus Plains Gold, which finished 9-3-0, also earning a spot at provincials.
For the Clippers, it is their second 7s championship in as many years and Clippers coach Shawn Sarkonak said it feels pretty good, noting Dauphin trailed Crocus by a single point going into the final jamboree.
“Our varsity squad was able to put it together and go undefeated on the day and take the league title,” he said.
Every player, Sarkonak said, pulled their weight throughout the season after losing quite a bit of depth from last year’s graduating players such as Brooke Miner, Chloe Fletcher, Emma Fox and Allee Hrechka.
“So we leaned heavily on the girls that played provincial this past summer, that brought the extra rugby in to lead the way and we came through in the end,” he added.
At provincials, the Clippers first defeated Steinbach, 49-5, then beat Crocus, 12-10.
Dauphin then faced Crocus again in the final, this time scoring a 28-20 victory and the first-ever provincial title.
“It feels amazing. It’s always nice to be the first ever, but it’s been a long time coming on getting an actual provincial title set up. Thanks to the work from Westman high school president Brian Yon, working with Tahnee Grosskopf in the Winnipeg and southeastern area,” he said. “Steinbach came and we were able to have a good afternoon of rugby and Dauphin was able to come out victorious.”
Once they knew who their opponent would be in the final, the Clippers knew what to expect, having faced Crocus a number of times in the Westman 7s league.
“We knew we had to shutdown a few of their key members. We knew if we shut them down and moved the ball wide and utilized our speed, good things would happen,” Sarkonak said.
Based on the team’s success this fall, Sarkonak likes the team’s chances in the spring 15s season.
“We have quite a few returning players from last year’s spring team that won the league and provincials, plus we had 11 players total take part in provincial rugby between the U18 program and the U16 Sask program. So we’re going to be leaning on them heavily,” he said. “Plus we’ve been able to have some new players with athletic back grounds and we’re looking forward to seeing how they transition from 7s to 15s.”
