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SFU Women's Rugby recruiting for coming season
by Hilary Millar
posted Aug 13 2006
SFU Womens' rugby team is starting it's fall season soon and wants YOU to
play with them. Our club has spots for players of all skill levels - from
the rugby-crazed pros to those who are curious about the game and have never
played before. We have coaches that have experience coaching at rep levels,
and all our players have access to world class training facilities. For more
information, see our poster. We play rugby in a competitive and fun
environment, and invite you to come join us on the pitch!
SFU Recruitment Poster in .pdf format
SFU Premier Women – play off bound: Face Burnaby in semi-final action
posted April 21 2006
by Hilary Miller
The Clan got the win they needed on the final weekend of the season overcoming a resilient Meraloma team to win 8 – 5 and advance into a play- off semi final with Burnaby. The win put SFU 1 point above UBC to claim 4th spot out right.
Coach Steve Bennett remarked.
“We had a very disappointing loss against UBC at the end of March and it put us under a lot of pressure to get the win we needed to make the playoffs and as it turned out we needed the win on the final day to make sure we were in and on points - not percentage. Given that we haven’t put the same team on the field two weekends in a row and have players playing out of position every week, it says a lot for the team’s character and dedication”
On one occasion during the season SFU managed to field its strongest and beat Capilano 22-5. For all the other games they have relied on players traveling from out of town and province!
“With players coming in for games only from Quesnel – Prince George and Calgary each week it was tough to build real cohesiveness in the squad” said Bennett
Add to this the amount of injuries the Clan dealt with, it’s a wonder they got this far.
“Injuries are the curse of all coaches and there isn’t a season goes by when you are not affected by them so you can never use them as an excuse for not achieving your goal – we knew we’d have a tough season with such a small squad and one made up of some very young and inexperienced players” said Bennett.
When asked about the focus for the season, he went on to say.
“Our goal was to have a good consolidating season and up until Xmas the playoffs weren’t on our radar. Seeing our position in the league standings in the New Year we thought we had a shot at 4th place and set goals to achieve this. We started well with a win against Capilano which was a great way to start the year. This was followed by a good win against a rebuilding Nanaimo team and what I thought was an important win against a good Bayside team given we were missing 6 starters. The UBC game hurt us, not just because we lost, but we didn’t turn up. Our confidence waned a little after that and another loss to Capilano meant we needed to beat Meralomas to qualify. I learned that we had made playoffs prior to the game with a better percentage, but I saw UBC were 1pt ahead of us on points, but a place behind. We did have 3 make up games in hand, but not 3 weeks to play them except for the game against the Lomas and all the coaches in the league know what a difficult team they are to beat.”
The game started well for the Clan and the scoring was opened early on by fullback Amanda Miller with a well worked try out wide. Ten minutes later Miller converted a penalty to make the score 8-0 which is how it stayed until half time. The second half saw a lot more pressure from the Clan, but the Lomas hung in there and were rewarded with a try after some hard work by a dominating scrum. SFU had the chances to put the game away, but some good defense held them out. Finally the whistle blew for the end of the game and there was know doubt about the playoff spot.
“It was important to win today” said Bennett – “I didn’t want to go into the playoffs with a loss and I was thinking about how sick I would feel I was part of the UBC team and we had lost out on percentage, but earned more points. In the end we earned our place after a battle, especially with the Lomas forwards who scrummaged really well on the day and played to their strengths”.
So the Clan go into Saturday’s game against Burnaby as serious under dogs, but not afraid.
Coach Bennett remarked “Playoff games are all about who performs on the day. The pressure is on Burnaby – we will play our hardest and have a good time in the process”
Premier Women defeat Bayside by a score of 12-5
by Hilary Miller
posted March 21 2006
Saturday's game was always going to prove a test for an SFU team missing 5
starters (unavailable for various reasons) and being replaced by youngsters
from the 2nd division team. The conditions were perfect for a good
game, but nerves from the younger inexperienced players and over
compensation from the veterans made for a very disjointed performance. Bayside were much improved from the first encounter between the two clubs and really made the Clan work hard for a narrow victory. Both teams had difficulty getting
anything going from rucks due to some very quick whistles from the referee
and the game became frustrating for players and coaches alike.
SFU failed to turn possession into points after spending periods of time camped inside Bayside's 22m. Poor decision making and some excellent tackling
kept the Clan out. The two teams exchanged tries in the first half and the Clan secured victory with a second half effort from Danielle Brissard -
converted by Amanda Miller. Bayside played hard to the end and finished the
game threatening the Clan defense, but in the end SFU had done enough for
the victory and now look forward to securing a playoff berth against UBC
next Saturday in what will be another battle.
A very much new look SFU team took to the field on Saturday to take on
Nanaimo, last season's provincial champions. Nanaimo 26 - SFU 12
posted Sept 21 2005
by Steve Bennett
A very much new look SFU team took to the field on Saturday to take on Nanaimo (last season's provincial champions) After a timid and nervy start which saw Nanaimo take a 6 point lead the team settled down into a rhythm and got themselves back in the game. With only 5 players left from the team last year, 6 brand new players and 4 playing out of position the coaches were impressed with the way the team came together in the second half. An unconverted try gave Nanaimo an 11-0 lead at half time, but the second half was all SFU.
Only the fact that these girls had never played together before was the difference between turning pressure into points and all this after being stunned by a Nanaimo try almost straight form the kick off to give them a 16 point lead. The Clan was rewarded with a try scored by Jeanette Garries and superbly converted by Amanda Miller shortly after Naniamo had kicked a penalty to bring the scores to 19-7.
SFU had all the pressure after that and came close to scoring a few times, but the fresh faces on the field and a lack of practice time together meant that balls were lost at critical times. Unfortunately one inherent pass lead to a break away try for Nanaimo to give them a 26 - 7 lead, but to the coaches joy this didn't dampen the spirit of the young and inexperienced SFU team and they came back to finish the game dominating play and scoring through Zuri Toppin.
The final score of 26-12 wasn't quite a reflection on the game, but great steps were taken towards rebuilding the team and looking to the future. Sarah Byers (17) played her first game at second row and played very well. Robi Yerex filled in at prop and had a great game in the sets. Tammy Gebert and Genevieve Gay (both new to the club) had excellent games. Overall the team came together very well and showed a lot of heart and determination which is a great foundation to work with when you are rebuilding a program.
SFU women’s rugby club is pleased to announce the addition of Heather Stirrup to their coaching staff
Press release August 8th 2005
submitted by Hilary Miller
Heather joins the club from England where she has just spent the last 8 years managing the England women’s team. Prior to this she played Premier rugby for Wasps and was also a member of the England team that won the 1994 world cup.
Heather will be working with current coaches Steve Bennett and Dave Jones and playing an integral role in the development of the SFU junior program. These are exciting times at the club as we now have an additional coach who has spent the last 8 years working with one of the most advanced programs for women in the world. As a club we can now move forward in achieving our goals of building the best junior program in the Province utilizing the facilities at SFU.
SFU can now offer bursaries to players to ease the pain of tuition fees and/or general life expenses. It is our intention to provide players with an environment that will improve their skills in a competitive arena and reach the highest level or allow them to have a fun playing social rugby. We can also offer the opportunity for gaining experience playing in competitions overseas.
For more information contact steve.bennett@streetprint.com
SFU Women’s Tour 2005, Amsterdam 7s just weeks away
submitted by Lisa Cooper
posted May 7 2005
Tour Information and Team Rosters
The SFU Women’s team is only weeks away from fulfilling their hopes of heading to Amsterdam. The 7’s team is unbeaten over the past two summers and qualified for the tournament based on their 7’s record. The tournament starts May 20th and finals day is the 22nd
The women’s competition will have 24 teams in it and the men’s division will have 80 teams made up of some of the best professional players in the world. They will be playing some club teams made up of players who play for their countries and on a semi professional or professional level. There will be teams from all over Europe which is a hot bed for women’s rugby and players from New Zealand and Australia who will be playing for European clubs and sponsored teams such as the Samurai women.
The team has been working extremely hard together for the past four weeks to improve their fitness levels, speed and power. They will be flying into England on the 16th May where they will be able to acclimatize their bodies to the time change, practice twice a day and play against the Wasps women who are England’s top Premier women’s club and include many national team players from various countries.
The roster of girls is as follows and includes 13 names. A couple of them are injured and the coach will wait to see who is fit to play when the roster in officially presented to the tournament organizers the day before the tournament begins. All will be going on the trip as they have worked too hard on fundraising and training to be cut now.
Players
Amy Martens - represented BC and long listed for Canada non student from Chilliwack plays prop.
Christy Lloyd – represented BC and long listed for Canada, student alumni, plays hooker
Jayme Davidson –represented BC, non student from Prince George now living in Vancouver, plays backrow
Marie –Eve Brindamour – represented BC and long listed for Canada, student, plays #8
D’Arcy McKay – represented BC, student, plays stand off.
Kim Dales – represented BC, non student from Prince George now living in Vancouver, plays prop
Jeanette Garries – represented BC and is team captain, student alumni, plays outside centre.
Danielle Brissard – travels down from Williams Lake to practice and play every week, just finished high school, plays outside centre
Amanda Miller –, student, plays fullback/wing
Christine Nombrado – student plays wing
Lia Thiesmann – represented BC non student plays scrum half
Pam Carlsen – alumni student plays backrow
Jenny Harvey – represented BC, plays wing
Coaches/trainers
Tina Carey – represented BC, student alumni, plays fullback (currently injured, but going as the trainer)
Steve Bennett – Coach
Dave Jones – Coach
Fundraiser Saturday, May 07th, 2005 at the Golden Spike Pub in Port Moody.
The trip is budgeted to cost $22K and with the last fundraiser coming up on May 7th at the Golden Spike Pub in Port Moody they are on course to hit that. They have been fundraising since January 2005 and through a huge club effort have managed to raise about $5K a month doing 50/50 draws in local pubs, attracting sponsors from the local community and organized dances, auctions and a Luau party theme which will be the theme for this coming Saturday
Tickets are $15 and include a choice of a steak, chicken or salmon dinner. The theme is ‘Luau rock’. There will be a live rock band (Monkey Business) and in between the theme will be Hawaiian with hopefully everyone dressed to suit. There will be a limbo competition, 50/50, raffle for prizes including beer fridges and $20 prize balloons.
Tickets will be available through Tina Carey tcarey@sfu.ca
Let me know if you need more info and thanks for taking an interest. This will be huge for the club and women’s rugby in general.
SFU lose to Nanaimo in Women's semis, face Capilanos for 3rd/4th place this weekend
posted March 29, 2005
by Steve Bennett
Thankfully the storms passed and the weather cleared for two teams to hopefully play the way they like too with some open running and lots of attacking rugby. Nanaimo took the early lead through an unfortunate missed kick and the Nanaimo winger Carolyn Spidell showed her pace by running the ball in from about half way to give Nanaimo a 5-0 lead after two minutes. The early score actually settled the nerves of the SFU team who came to the game with no fewer than 8 starters missing and nothing to lose.
After some intense pressure and hard work by the forwards the Clan found themselves with a 5m scrum that saw Marie-Eve Brindamour score after a text book #8 pick up and drive for the line. With 15 minutes played the Clan had a 7-5 lead and were growing in confidence with the clan wining their lineouts and a lot of the oppositions and scrumming well against a much bigger and more experienced pack.
Fullback Amanda Miller and centers Jeanette Garries and Danielle Brissard broke through the Nanaimo centers on a number of occasions, impressing with their speed. Unfortunately, passes didn’t get made when they should’ve been and some great cover tackles were made by Nanaimo’s Kim Davies. The clan players became increasingly frustrated by some of the referee’s decision making during the half and tempers got the better of some of them which caused the team to lose good ground and prime attacking opportunities. With 20 minutes played Nanaimo exposed some holes in the Clan defense to take a 12-7 lead at half time in a game that could go either way. Ten minutes into the second half Carolyn Spidell went over for her third try and soon after SFU lost Amanda Miller with a neck injury and concussion. The loss of Amanda made the Clan dig deep and keep fighting and certainly made Nanaimo work hard in defense for a 15 minute period, but couldn’t find the finish they needed and continued to be frustrated by a lot of early whistles from the referee when play could’ve been allowed to flow for both teams. Around the 30 minute mark SFU was punished for some sloppy play and once again Carolyn Spidell pounced on the loose ball to run home her fourth try. Prior to this SFU lost a key player in their #10 D’Arcy McKay who left the field with a suspected knee ligament tear. With only two spares available a lot of re-shuffling had to be done and despite a brave effort a fifth try by Spidell at the end of the game was enough to seal SFU’s fate. The game was indicative of the Clan’s season which has been plagued by injury. However, the girls battled hard to the end and will learn lessons from this game going forward into next season especially for the girls who stepped up from the 2nd division team. SFU’s player of the game was Danielle Brissard who was a big threat in offense and made some hard hitting tackles!
Nanaimo were worthy winners on the day and the referee kept control of a passion filled game, especially a game of this importance with only five other games under his belt. Next week the clan will muster a team together to take on Capilano for the third/fourth consolation game on what should be a great day for women’s rugby!
Soon after the season is over the 12 girls selected to take part in the Heineken 7’s in Amsterdam will go into a 5 week intensive training program ready to represent SFU and BC as they take on other 7’s teams from around Europe and the Southern Hemisphere.
SFU run in 12 tries in a 70 – 0 victory over Douglas
posted March 15, 2005
by Steve Bennett
This was the last regular game of the season for the SFU Premier women and they knew they had to put in a good performance to make the playoffs and go into them with some confidence. Having lost 7 Premier team starters over Christmas the team has been learning to play together and a brand new system. Previous games have brought frustration as they have worked hard, but not got the desired results with finishing being the biggest problem. Saturday was a different story and aided by the dry sunny weather everything came together and finished!. Twelve tries and 5 conversions later the Clan had not only found their feet, but a ton of confidence.
 | | Jeanette Garries goes for a run |
The scoring opened early when 18 year old Amanda Miller finished off a well worked move and cutting the opposing centers in half. Within 15 minutes the Clan was up by 3 tries through Danielle Brissard (also 18) and another by Amanda Miller. Lia Thiesmann made the single conversion. The ball handling on the day was 1st class and despite Douglas’s efforts they couldn’t get to grips with the hard running and ball handling of the Clan. Jeanette Garries worked hard to set up her teammates and the pack dominated in the loose, scrums and lineouts. Christine Nombrado, Marie-Eve Brindamour and a second try by Danielle Brissard gave the Clan a 32 – 0 lead at half time. The forwards had recycled quick ball from the rucks and the backs were utilizing their speed with the backrow working hard all over the field. During the interval the slate was wiped clean by coach Steve Bennett and the girls were asked to continue with the up tempo play and finish the game in style. Danielle Brissard and D’Arcy McKay added two quick tries after the break with Amanda Miller taking over the kicking duties and scoring a conversion.
Douglas is not the kind of team to quit and tried to get into a mauling game using their size and experience. For about 10 minutes they held the clan at bay in the center of the field, but the tackling got back on track after some sloppy play and Jayme Davidson finished off some great work by the backrow after turning over Douglas ball. Amanda Miller slotted her second conversion. The Clan got stronger as the game went on and the fitness was telling even more with Christine Nombrado scoring her second try of the day, Danielle Brissard her fourth and Marie-Eve Brindamour her second with two more conversions from Amanda Miller to end the day with 70 points on the board.
SFU will play Nanaimo who they beat 15- 0 earlier in the season albeit with a different team and narrowly lost on the Island by two points (7 – 5). The clan will go into the game as underdogs, but this new look team has lots of heart and with this kind of effort might just cause an upset? It’s all about the day and the team that excels will take the honours!
See you at Easter Dave ;)
This coming weekend at the Golden Spike pub in Port Moody the SFU women will be holding a fundraiser towards their trip to Amsterdam to take part in the Heineken 7’s. There will be a silent auction including a weekend ski trip to whistler, ski passes, mountain bike adventures and river rafting plus lots more. Contact pamelabeaudoin@yahoo.ca
The tickets are $15 that includes a Salmon, Steak or Chicken dinner.
SFU Women come out on the short end of a 21-10 scoreline to Burnaby
By Steve Bennett
posted March 3 2005
The SFU women went down to a well drilled and cohesive Burnaby team this past weekend, but not without a fight. Having lost 8 premier starters since the end of the last half to injury and/or heavy school workloads the team is relying on inexperienced players from the second team to step and compete at the Premier level. They are doing just that and playing with some real grit and determination. Having gone two tries down the clan battled back with a penalty by Lia Thiesmann and a well worked try scored by Danielle Brissard (18 years old) and converted by Lia Thiesmann to reduce the score to 14-10 in favour of the Burnaby side. Momentum was swinging the clans way, but some unforced errors allowed Burnaby a break towards the end of the game that resulted in a converted try and a final score of 21-10.
Lia Thiesmann (#9) was the outstanding player of the game for SFU as she battled tirelessly for every ball. Christy Lloyd had a good game in the forwards making some big tackles when they were needed and getting used to her new role in the backrow. D’Arcy McKay battled hard throughout the game making important tackles and setting up some nice plays. Next week the clan play their final game of the season against Douglas.
SFU Women Aim for Amsterdam
By Lisa Cooper
The SFU women’s rugby club is setting its sights on 7’s in Amsterdam.
The team has been accepted to play in this world renowned tournament in May 2005 that will include 40 women’s teams and 80 men’s teams from around the world. The team had to supply a record of play as part of the application process, and the teams 2 year unbeaten streak was convincing enough for a spot.
The team is in a race to raise the funds (approximately $30,000) before the end of April and also to gain bragging rights as the first women’s team from North America to take part. The team is hoping to raise the money through various fundraising events, the first being a Valentines Ball to be held at the Cameron Recreation centre in Burnaby on Saturday February 12th. Tickets are $10 and also act as a raffle ticket for some great door prizes. Beer and Liquor will be CHEAP and there will also be food and a top class DJ. This is sure to be a great evening so make sure you get your tickets early before they’re gone and support the SFU women’s team in their efforts to get to Amsterdam and represent British Columbia women’s rugby.
For more information on this fundraiser or to support the team through donations, please contact Steve Bennet at Steve.bennett@streetprint.com and for more information on the Amsterdam 7’s please visit http://www.amsterdamsevens.com/
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