The St. Thomas University women’s rugby team finished a tough season marked by resilience towards a series of injury-related challenges, but still, the “girls want to play.”
The team was not able to form a full roster in two separate games, which, according to the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA), means that the team had to forfeit the season.
The main reason behind this challenge was the high number of muscle and head-related injuries.
Amidst this unfortunate outcome, captain Savannah Simon said that the commitment of the team is untouched.
“I am really proud of every single player that has come out to play,” said Simon. “I have a great amount of respect for women who love to display their strength, find new strengths within themselves and take on new experiences.”
Simon said that this is a “building year” for the team, where the focus is on the process and despite the results of the season. The team has been able to maintain a strong collective mentality looking forward to next season.
“One of the most difficult parts of the season was that we have a young team and a lot of players are not only learning how to play rugby, but everybody’s learning new positions,” she said.
Both the women’s and men’s rugby teams at STU are composed of many players who are still learning about the sport, which can lead to having smaller rosters when injuries happen.
“I don’t think that a lack of experience should stop anyone from wanting to play rugby,” Simon said. “You have such amazing coaches to teach you and really experienced teammates.”
She said that she would love to see the rugby community grow. Simon added that a roster composed of more experienced athletes could give new players time to adapt to the sport.
“I would love to see the program build in terms of rugby athleticism, having our training and our lifting based around how to build and how to best prepare your body for a rugby game,” said Simon.
Ava Correia is a third-year student and describes this season as “unified” and although they did not have the best year in terms of wins, she has never been on a team “so committed” on and off the field.
Correia has been playing rugby for seven years as well as coaching high school, but it is her first year with the Tommies.
“I think that this is different in a way that this team cares a lot about each other and about making sure that we’re doing the best that we can beyond just practice,” said Correia.
She said that even though the team did not have a deep bench like other teams, that was never a problem for them because “it is a privilege to stay on the field.”
“I found that any challenges that have come up, no matter what they are within the team, I’ve never met a team that’s this close and supportive.”
STU Athletics Director Meaghan Donahue thought that the team had a “pretty deep roster.” Despite this, it got to a point, from a safety perspective, that the Athletics Department and team head coach Gabriel Kim “didn’t feel like [they] could field that number [of available players].”
“Putting player safety at the forefront just meant that even if we did have some people on our roster, maybe they weren’t ready for a calibre of a team like UNB as an example,” said Donahue.
Donahue said that every decision made this season was “thoroughly discussed” and said that the possibility of following the choices made by other former ACAA teams is being considered.
The Dalhousie and University of King’s College are now participating in exhibition seven player leagues opposed to the ACAA which fields 15 players.
“We are looking at all possible scenarios and are not committing to one thing one way or the other right now, but in having conversations with our coach and looking at what the feasibility is of our current roster and the recruitment for next year,” she said.
As of now, rugby sevens is not an ACAA sport, but according to Donahue “there’s potentially a push being made to have it become official as an ACAA sport.”
“St. Thomas is one of the founding members of the Women’s Rugby League in the ACAA,” said Donahue. “We want to participate in ACAA rugby.”
