The Dauphin Mavericks opened the 2024 Rugby Manitoba Division 2 season with a convincing, 70-0 win over the Winnipeg Wasps, Saturday in Winnipeg.
Nate Yury, Scott Gower, Nick Searle and Daniel Evans each scored two tries, while Matthew Zurba, Riley Keith, Conway Almas and Cole Ames had singles. Ryan Dreger contributed five converts.
Mavericks coach Shawn Sarkonak said it was a great way to start the season.
“The boys just came out of the gate flying and didn’t look back. We just got our legs underneath us and just was all on our front foot right from kickoff,” he said.
Dauphin put its speed to good use and took away Winnipeg’s time and space defensively, not letting them get anywhere.
“And that’s what we’ve been working on right from the get-go. With offence, you have to try and create time and space, but on defence, you’ve got to just take it away. So we were really focusing on that the last number of sessions,” Sarkonak said.
“I already knew the offensive side would be there, so defence first.”
The Mavericks will have some time to fine tune their game before their next match, June 15 in Winnipeg against the Assassins.
Sarkonak said they will work on a few things before then.
“Some ball retention or positioning when going into contact. That ball placement in rucks was the big thing that our guys were saying they really want to work on. A little bit of defence of just coming up. Some new guys not used to coming up hard off the line and keeping up that line of defence.”
Dauphin’s home opener will take place, June 22, when they host the Winnipeg Wombats at 3 p.m.