The Dauphin Clippers rugby teams are set to defend their Westman High School Rugby league titles, this week.
After finishing the season with a perfect 4-0 record and outscoring their opponents, 310-0, the Clippers girls earned a bye into the final when Swan Valley forfeited, so Dauphin will now play the winner of Tuesday’s Souris-Crocus Plains semifinal game in the final, slated for May 25 in Dauphin.
Clippers coach Shawn Sarkonak said it is disappointing not to play the semifinal match, a game he said the girls earned.
“And when you don’t get the game time, you don’t get a chance to really execute what you’re working on in training,” he said.
“So I guess we can look at it that we have an extra day for training to prepare for finals. But we’re definitely disappointed that we won’t be able to continue to showcase the great season that we’re already having.”
Sarkonak said it would have been nice if Swan Valley could have fielded a team to play the match to continue their own development.
“We definitely need to figure out a way to increase our numbers and increase our teams and continue, for the league as a whole, to be competitive and not just have the strengths of one or two teams,” he said.
When it comes to the final, Sarkonak feels both teams can be competitive against the Clippers.
“Both teams are very well coached. We’re looking forward to who ever comes out of that and having a great final,” he said.
When it comes to provincials, the final will be a one-game winner-take-all as there is no representation on the women’s side from Winnipeg. So the league final will also be a preview of the provincial final in Dauphin, June 1.
The Dauphin boys were 3-1 on the season, finishing first and will meet the Vincent Massey Vikings, Wednesday, in Dauphin, at 5:30 p.m., while Souris and Crocus Plains will meet in the other semifinal in Brandon.
Clippers coach Aaron Miner is expecting the game to be similar to their 38-19 win over the Vikings, last Wednesday in Brandon. The game was close in the first half, before the Clippers pulled away in the second half.
“At halftime, you’ll notice one team pull away. Our pack is definitely a little more experienced and in better physical condition than their pack. So we hope to do the same thing as we did last game and kind of wear them down and then take over at halftime. And then it will be a battle in the trenches,” Miner said.
Beating the Vikings in the regular season gives the Clippers some confidence heading into the semifinal match. But the coaching staff will have to ensure the players are not overconfident.
“They’re quite an improved team from the team they were last year. They picked up a few athletes, a few football players, actually, that have really rounded out their top end players. So we can’t go into this game overconfident at all,” Miner said.
The winners of the semifinal matches will not only earn a berth into the league final, but also earn a berth to provincials in Dauphin, May 31 and June 1.
To help with the financial costs of hosting provincials, the Clippers will host a second fund-raising barbecue, Thursday, at the Dauphin Co-op Food Store from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.