The Conestoga men’s rugby team got its first victory last night against Mohawk College. The Condors defeated the Hawks 52-28 in a much-needed win. This broke a three-game losing streak.
“Today the morale of the team is good,” said head coach Greg Dawkins. “You know when you have three losses in a row everyone will be upset, so this is definitely a good mental break for the boys.”
It was a hard-earned victory for the Condors. The team worked extra hard during practice and even spiced it up a bit.
“We let our captains run the last two practices,” Dawkins explained. “The team cohesion was needed, so the captains ran the practices so everything was cohesive.”
Changing things up like that really built up the team chemistry and allowed the team to work together more effectively. Dawkins believes the team won by playing together well.
“That’s the only difference. There’s no inter-squad arguments. Everyone is on the same page today,” he said.
Isaac Ross, who plays prop on the team, agrees.
“We had the talent to win the other games; we just didn’t play as a team,” he said.
If the team can keep this momentum moving forward, it can win more games and even achieve a .500 record.
“We have to play better. We have to improve a bit on the little things and stop hanging our heads and then we’ll be good,” said Ross.
The team is now 1-3 moving up to third place in the Western Division behind Georgian and Sheridan. Conestoga holds the same record as Seneca and Mohawk, who are also 1-3, so this will make things close moving toward the end of the season.
Dawkins has high hopes.
“I think we can do 2-4 this season at least; potentially 3-3.”
When asked before the game what the team had to do to win last night, Greg Marsden, a winger, said, We just have to stick together I guess and work really hard.”
Conestoga struggled during its losing streak and team morale was low, but it seemed to improve after Wednesday night’s victory.
“We were a bit down,” said Marsden. “I think we’ve come together over the past few weeks. It’s just built and built up, and now I think we’re really strong at the moment.”
Marsden believes if the team keeps doing what they did Wednesday night, it can improve its record. When asked what the team did to prepare for Wednesday’s game he said, “We’ve been working on our defence for the past few weeks, so that’s a big thing and that’s basically our plan, I guess — to try and hit them hard.”
The Condors seem to have high hopes heading into their next game on Sunday, Oct. 14, against Georgian College.
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