Growing pains

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After a season brimming with frustration, the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks rugby teamsโ€™ year of redemption has hit an immediate roadblock.

With neither team winning a single game last year, the 2011 season openers on Sunday werenโ€™t much to get excited about, as the menโ€™s team dropped a 61-5 decision to Western and the women dropped their home opener by the worst score in team history; a 125-0 thrashing to the number-two nationally-ranked Guelph Gryphons.

But for menโ€™s coach, Rob McQueen and womenโ€™s boss Michelle Joslin, thereโ€™s reason for optimism.

โ€œI think the girls all understand they [Guelph] are a great team ….Theyโ€™re a nationally-ranked team so obviously itโ€™s a hard loss,โ€ said womenโ€™s rugby co-coach Michelle Joslin. โ€œWe looked a lot better than we did last season.โ€

There were diamond performances lost in the rough.

โ€œ[Fourth-year flanker] Samantha Schmalz stepped it up,โ€ said Joslin. โ€œShe had a fantastic game; she was all over the field.โ€

For a program just finding its legs, itโ€™s the teamโ€™s veterans that need to provide the comforting presence when things get rough and thatโ€™s exactly what the squadโ€™s vets did.

โ€œBriana Wilson, Brittany Maksymyk and Taryn Caley all … stepped it up. Their energy and their experience from playing on the team last year and their positive attitude and positive talk [kept the girls going].โ€

The women do have skill and craftiness on their side.

โ€œWeโ€™re very tiny; weโ€™ve got some great plays on the outside …. Weโ€™re going to try and work in some plays to get good ball movement and use our speed to our advantage,โ€ said Joslin.

โ€œWe can only go up from here.โ€

For the menโ€™s team, the squad didnโ€™t let Western leave without giving the team harbouring many national players something to think about.

โ€œThe score got out of hand a little bit,โ€ said the coach. โ€œIn the first half, we were at times totally playing with them and actually being the dominant team, but there were a few rookies and a few guys who didnโ€™t know their responsibilities, and by the second half, [the team] was a little deflated emotionally.โ€

But things are looking up for the rest of the season.

The menโ€™s team can build on an exhibition win against those same Western Mustangs (minus a few key players) and put together a solid run.

โ€œI still expect us to compete,โ€ said McQueen. โ€œWe should definitely beat Toronto [on Sunday] and weโ€™re about on par with Waterloo and Guelph [the Hawks face both teams after the Toronto contest]. Weโ€™ve just got to get a few things ironed out.โ€

First-year Neil McGregor had a standout game for the men. The fly-half fill-in for the injured starter worked on only two days of practice and performed admirably for the squad, scoring for the Hawks.

The team will also get a boost defensively, as starters Kent Johnstone and Brenden Gilbert will try and make their return from a concussion and a tweaked ankle respectively.

The menโ€™s team visits Toronto on Saturday and returns home to host Guelph at 1 p.m. on Sept. 24. The women will host Waterloo on Saturday at 1 p.m. at University Stadium.


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