Once the forwards are locked in a scrum, their shoulders and heads crushed into the hard-wearing bodies of their teammates or mashed up front into the maw of the opponent, eight St. George’s senior boys count out a string of numbers. Four, six, two, or some combination, and the ball is swept underfoot out of the trench.
“You’re trying to move and catch your feet,” said St. George’s forward Ruairidh MacPhail, a utility knife of a player who slots in as a prop, in the second row and as the 8-man. A set play, coordinated by numbers, combines the players’ power, he said. “If everyone is moving individually, then we don’t move at all.”
Seventy-one players push together to move the Saints forward and preserve the 82-year history of the school’s program. The senior boys rugby team does not have an elite squad, no A or B sides, no first 15. With the intent of elevating the newest players and driving the most developed, head coach Mike Stiles welcomes all-comers and lets no one get complacent.
“In grades 11 and 12 this year, we have 71 boys who played and there are 30 who will be coming to the B.C.’s. Those 41 other boys push these boys to be their best. That’s how we coach,” said Stiles.
Does the team have a star? “One to 15,” said the coach, signaling out all starting positions. “Honestly, we have 25 players that we need to rely on.”
The Saints have lost captain Joe Sourisseau to injury. Fraser Hurst and Ben Scher have stepped up at different times as captain.
The Saints, ranked second behind Shawnigan Lake, are seeking to return to the B.C. AAA rugby championship final, a title they claimed last year, snapping the six-year winning streak of Shawnigan Lake, a rival private school from Vancouver Island.
In the first round of the playoffs May 23, St. George’s travelled to Kelowna and shut down the host Owls 76-12. On Wednesday the Saints had to beat Robert Bateman, the No. 7 squad from Abbotsford that is anchored by the Thiel twins, spectacular brothers Josh and Jake, the sons of Canadian national team prop Jon Thiel. St. George’s prevailed 46-11 to advance to today's quarterfinals against the No. 3 Yale Lions.
St. George’s strength and strategy is speed. Built on team conditioning and individual fitness, the well-coached Saints all seem to have the same word on their minds: expansive.
“We are fast,” said Stiles, speaking specifically about the prospect of advancing to meet — and beat —rival Shawnigan Lake. “If we’re quicker than them and if we try to keep the ball alive, that is one advantage we might have over them.”
If the forward (the players, typically muscled and wide, in the scrum,) and the backs (the typically fleet-footed players who run and pass in open space) went head-to-head in a footrace, said Saints scrum-half and acting captain Ben Scher, “It would probably be pretty even. Some of the forwards would probably even win.”
“We’re a team of speed and we really like to pass the ball around. It’s sideline to sideline the whole time and what helps is our fitness. We use the whole field. From [positions] one to 15, everyone on the team has really great skills, which you don’t really see on other teams,” said Scher, who, at 14, moved with his family to Vancouver from France and speaks with an accent that is part, “English, South African, part French and Canadian.”
MacPhail said the Saints simply log more miles, so many more that the other team just can’t keep up.
“We try to wear them down and then move the ball really fast,” he said. “We pass the ball to one wing and then pass it to the other one and make their forward chase us back and forth.”
Even when they’re defending, it’s as if they’re thinking about out-running their opponents, said hooker Oscar Hong.
“We play defence with a going-forward attitude. We play defence more like offence but without the ball. We want to go forward with that aggression,” he said.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Saints were focused on Robert Bateman secondary. But they were feeling the pressure that is unique to defending champs, said Scher.
“There is a great rugby legacy at this school. We’re going to try everything we can in these next couple days to repeat that.”
The B.C. AAA senior boys rugby championship final is scheduled for 4 p.m. May 30 at Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford.
Twitter: @MHStewart
