There was no defence for a well run, conditioned side at the Stampede Sevens.
The Foothills Lions struck gold in the U18 girls division at the prestigious Stampede Sevens tournament Saturday at the Calgary Rugby Park.
The Lions edged the Calgary Mavericks, a regional all-star team, 19-10 in the gold-medal game.
“We were tenacious in defence. Our defence was really patient and then we attacked and created turnovers when we needed to,” said U18 Lions coach Jim Ryan. “We executed off that and took a few chances. It was back and forth and we ended up taking advantage of when we had the ball and working some matchups that were favourable.”
No one was going to matchup with some of the Lions’ options on the field including roadrunner Carmen Izyk, representing Canada at the Youth Commonwealth Games this month in the Bahamas, on the wing along with national U18 member Brogan Mior and a plethora of provincial level athletes.
Team Alberta U16 member and Lions captain Kylie Manser was a dominant presence on both sides of the ball.
“It was our structure that Jim has taught us and our plays that we had,” Manser said. “We had a super fast team which is key for sevens.”
Foothills fielded two sides in the U18 girls division, essentially splitting the squads evenly with one taking home the tourney title and the other missing out on the playoff round in the tiebreaker.
The Lions two teams actually faced off in round-robin with the non-medallist squad winning out in a 17-5 matchup.
Foothills went on to edge Edmonton’s Super Soakers 24-7 to advance to the tournament final.
The Mavericks squad – playing under the Hawaii Try O’s name – was a familiar outfit for several members of the Lions who’ve suited up for the regional rep team.
“We’ve played with lots of them before. It was a little weird tackling them,” Manser said.
“It was fun though because you also know how they play.”
Structure and positioning are crucial in sevens rugby where acres of space can open up in a flash.
“We have one person at the back who sweeps,” said Manser, a Holy Trinity Academy student. “The people in the front have to shift and if anything happens and you miss a tackle or there is an overlap then the person behind is in charge of making that last tackle.
“That was really important to know you’re on one person, not trying to cover too many and to trust your teammates.”
The Lions could also trust their fitness.
Tackling the hot and humid conditions at the Calgary Rugby Park was made much easier given the squad’s commitment to conditioning in training under the mantra of ‘no one fitter.’
“The conditioning really helps us especially in the second half of a game where we’re all super tired or in the last game of the day,” Manser said. “All of the running we’ve done before makes running in the game much easier. It makes you much more relaxed knowing you have the endurance.
“We had enough to win. We all realized it’s more of a mental game at that point.”
It was very nearly a double dose of Lions on top of the podium.
The Lions U18 boys brought an undefeated mark into the gold-medal game only to fall 24-14 to the Ronin 7s — a de facto Mavericks team.
“They scored late to seal it,” Ryan said. “They’re a really good side and they took a couple chances that we didn’t. The boys played really well all weekend. That was the only team we lost to.
“To take two teams that are clubs and still take them to the final against rep teams is quite good.”
