The High School Rugby season fires up this weekend in Brandon as teams converge for the Annual John Keogh High School Rugby Tournament.
This year just the Dauphin Clipper girls team is making the trek down because the boys team didn't have enough players available for the weekend.
Jason Alf is back for another year as coach along with Rod Carberry. Alf says practices at the beginning of the season started off really well.
"We had a lot of interest early on. We probably started two months earlier than we normally do, unfortunately it was all in the gym so a lot of things you wanna do you're kind of restricted on. However we got to do a lot of teaching which is good for players. Unfortunately with some commitment changes and people deciding it wasn't for them so we had to re recruit and now we have a lot of raw players coming out at the start of the season."
As mentioned the Clippers are just sending the girls team to the John Keogh event this year, the reason is there were not enough boys that could commit to the weekend excursion.
Alf says it sounds like the conditions for this weekend's event will be excellent.
"They haven't got the little bit of extra snow that we got over the last week. This might be the first time in a while where we've done this tournament two years in a row cause there's usually some sort of problem down there because of the weather. The forecast for Brandon this weekend is cool with a little bit of rain, which is fine because the rain is fun to play in."
Alf adds this weekend's tournament is a chance for players to learn the game and get experience.
"Getting them watching, I think some of the guys are gonna come down and watch as well to get a good feel for the game. The tournament gives us an idea about shifting players around to different positions and things like that throughout the season. We're looking to develop our game."
The Westman High School Rugby League season is expected to start next week.
The Clipper girls will play two games Saturday at the John Keogh Rugby Tournament in Brandon. They'll meet the Springfield Sabres at noon and then take on the Crocus Plainsmen at 3:00pm.
