The Dauphin Clippers rugby teams are off to dominating starts in the Westman High School Rugby.

The Clippers girls started the season with a 55-0 win over the Swan Valley Tigers, May 2, before hammering the Vincent Massey Vikings, 77-0, last Thursday.

Felicity Sahulka led the Clippers with two tries against Swan Valley, while Tanya Devos, Brooke Miner, Emma Fox, Chloe Fletcher, Bree Walker, Rhoda Evans and Ruth Evan added singles. Miner added five converts.

On Thursday against the Vikings, Fox, Fletcher, Victoria Carter, Jana Manzano each had two tries, with Allee Hrechka, Miner, Mai Maguet, Evans and Saje Marohn adding singles. Miner also chipped in with six converts.

“You can see they’ve been putting the work in at practice,” said Clippers coach Shawn Sarkonak. “And especially the ones that had the opportunity to travel to Ireland. You can really tell that experienced paid off and we’re rolling in the season right now.”

As well as the girls played, there are areas of the game Sarkonak would like to see improved upon.

“You want to improve every game and every practice. Our key themes that we’re really focusing on is playing an expansive game, going sideline to sideline, playing with flow. Which means moving the ball and not getting tunnell vision and playing as individuals,” he said. “I’ve been preaching to the girls all year that the higher level coaches, they don’t really key in and focus on who is scoring the tries or kicking the converts. They’re looking at what led to the try being scored. The commitment of the defender, drawing and passing, skipping a pass or essentially, just creating space and putting the ball in the space.”

The girls were in Brandon, Monday for a game against Crocus Plains, followed by a date with the Rivers Rams on Thursday.

Sarkonak hopes to see the girls continue their momentum.

“I’ve been talking to the coaches around the league and keeping an eye on the standings and we’re looking forward to this,” he said, adding Crocus Plains won their first game over Souris, while Rivers will be Dauphin’s toughest test as the league champion for the last few years. “We’ve had that one circled all year and we’re really looking forward to it,” he said.

While dominating wins are great, Sarkonak also pointed out they can lead to bad habits forming.

“Or individuals wanting to pad the stats a little bit. The coaching staff is staying on them just to keep the team-game mindset and just to move the ball and work together and good things will happen,” he said.

The Clippers boys also swept their two games, beating the Crocus Plains Plainsmen, 47-5, on Tuesday and Vincent Massey, 42-5, on Thursday.

Guzman Garcia had two tries to lead the Clippers against the Plainsmen. Scott Gower, Lars Gudbjartson, William Miner, Landyn Garton and Louis Prevot added singles and Prevot also recorded six tries.

Against the Vikings, Miner had two tries, while singles were added by Garcia, Joseph Lopez, Julien Lopez and Alex Thompson. Garcia added three converts and Prevot had one.

Clippers coach Aaron Miner said the Clippers are already in midseason stride after they started practicing in early January.

“We’re where we expected to be,” he said.

Miner has seen an improvement in the play of those players who were part of the trip to Ireland. Those who weren’t, he added, are working hard to catch up.

“They’re putting in a lot of extra time and effort at the gym and running at the track. It’s just been amazing to see them catch to the 15 that did go to Ireland,” Miner said.

The team’s experience, Miner said, was a key to the two victories to open the season.

“We’re playing against some strong teams that have great athletes, as well. But with our two exchange students having ample experience, it just put us over the edge,” he said. “They’re doing things that other teams don’t expect Canadian teams to be able to do at this age.”
The ability shown by those students - Prevot and Garcia - is showing other teams how good they can be if they work hard enough.

Most of the Clippers players were in Brandon for a U17 rugby camp, with coaches from Team Canada and Team Manitoba, featuring three days of practices.

“Those players got an extreme amount of practice and good coaching. Those that are in Grade 12 know we haven’t had a lot of chances to practice. We are playing so frequently now, that we’re not getting a chance to get some practice time in,” Miner said.

The Clippers boys joined the girls team in Brandon for a rematch with the Plainsmen on Monday.