With warmer weather on its way, people are eagerly waiting for spring and summer sports to begin.

When it comes to high school sports, that means rugby season will soon be upon us.

And as two-time defending league and provincial champions, the Dauphin Clippers girls team will have high expectations this season.

The girls have been working out for about a month, running weekly practices at Barker School. They are now practicing twice a week at the DRCSS, Mondays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., until they can get outside.

The girls will be coached again by Shawn Sarkonak and Kent Miner.

Sarkonak said they are a little light on numbers right now, but that is to be expected this early in the season.

“Especially with players being multi-sport athletes. We’ve been getting on average about 13 out to practice. But once spring break is done, we’ll be back at it full bore next week, we should have 19 to 21,” he said.

There will be five teams competing in the girls league - Dauphin, Vincent Massey, Souris, Crocus Plains and the Crocus Plains JVs.

Noting the Clippers have graduated a number of quality athletes who have gone on to play at the university level, Sarkonak feels there are still plenty of quality athletes within the team.

“Basically, over the next two years, we’re going to be graduating an entire starting lineup. So the recruitment has started right now and we’ve been fortunate over the last three seasons that we’ve been able to get quality athletes coming out from other sports and trying it out,” he said.

Right now, the focus in practice is on getting a feel for the ball again.

“We did have around nine girls participate in the Westman Winter Academy over the winter and there’s a few of them, right now, taking part in the Team Manitoba 7s training camp and trying to crack Team Manitoba for the Canada Summer Games this summer,” Sarkonak said.

“But right now we do have a few new girls out, so it’s just getting them up to speed and what the game is all about and getting them used to running  and passing the ball and making sure they can play the game safe. With it being a contact sport, how to have good body position and how to tackle properly and how to ruck.”

The team is looking forward to getting outside, but Mother Nature, Sarkonak said, is not co-operating at this point.

Prior to the start of the regular season, the Clippers will take part in the annual John Keogh Memorial Tournament, Apr. 26, in Brandon.

Sarkonak likes the tournament because it gives teams a chance for every player to see some playing time, which helps veteran players get the rust out and new players get to see what a game is really like.

“And they’re able to go out there, make mistakes and it’s not going to matter, because there’s no points. It’s just about getting used to the game,” he said.

The Clippers girls start the season, May 1, when they host the Plainsmen at 5:30 p.m.

The Clippers boys team will be coached by Aaron Miner and Gerald Lopez.

Miner said the team started practicing at the same time as the girls.

There were 46 boys signed up to play rugby this season.

“Which is a great sign for high school boys rugby. It’s a great sign and a bad sign. It’s hard to make a team with 46 players. It’s not quite enough to make two teams,” Miner said.

“So we decided to go with one large team and try to pick up a lot of exhibition games and tournaments so that everybody gets a good chance to get a lot of reps in for the team.”

This year will see four boys teams competing for the league title, with the Clippers entering as two-time defending champions.

While the team is confident going into the season, Miner noted they did lose 12 seniors to graduation.

“We’re down to just two or three Grade 12s this year. It’s definitely a younger team this year, but we are gearing up towards what we like to call a harvest year for next year. Not taking anything back from this year’s team, I think we’re still probably ranked number one in the Westman league,” he said.

The boys are looking amazing so far, Miner said., adding of the 46 players that signed up, more than 25 are rugby veterans that have come up through the Parkland Pirates youth program.

“And have now graduated into the high school program and then will hopefully graduate on to the Dauphin Mavericks,” he said.

“This is what Gerald and I dreamed of 15 years ago when the youth program first started. It’s starting to come to light now and we’re starting to see all the benefits. Without guys like Codi Harrigan and Jordan Campbell taking over the reigns of the youth program and keeping it so active and so popular, these things wouldn’t come to fruition as they are. Things are looking so good on the rugby front in Dauphin, not only at the youth level, but at the senior men’s level now.”

Like the girls, the boys will start the season, May 1, hosting Crocus Plains at 6:30 p.m.