Secondary school rugby teams converged in Williams Lake for a final fall jamoboree on Thursday, Oct. 24.
LCSS boys coach Braden McCallum said teams came from Colllege Heights and Duchess Park in Prince George and Peter Skene Ogden in 100 Mile House.
His competitive senior boys team won all their games, the development senior boys team came close within two points or one score in every single game.
"It's been an amazing season," he said. "The players have been growing wonderfully as a team both in skill and in team cohesion."
With the jamboree over the season will resume after spring break in March and at that point the LCSS team will move from a sevens to a 15s team.
"We are hoping to secure our zones provincial berth and going down to Abbotsford at the end of May for provincials," McCullum said.
For the jamboree, McCallum divided the Grade 10 to 12 players into an A and a B team.
"When we play sevens, there are only seven people on the field and a couple of people on the bench. To have a team of 22 playing sevens there are a lot of guys that don't really get any time."
He split the team into the two groups, having one that was very competitive and the other one more of a development side.
"That way we get more playing time, more touches, more skill development, " he explained. "It was great. There were some players that started the season on the development side that could have just have easily been subs, if not starters on our competitive side."
During the games against College Heights and Duchess Park, McCullum lent the visiting teams some players because they did not have enough.
"I always lend our best players," he noted. "That way our remaining players play against real tough competition because playing against players that are better than you is the only way you are going to improve."
The junior boys team is developing, with nine new players in Grade 7 showing interest in the team.
"Unfortunately they are not able to compete in B.C. School Sports until they are in Grade 8, but it shows that the future of the boys rugby program is going to be very bright with these Grade 7 athletes," McCullum said. " Some of them are very skilled and I am excited to see what they can do next year in Grade 8."
Thanking the teams who travelled to compete at the jamboree, McCullum added it was great to see rugby in the north growing in Prince George and the support coaches have there for the program to keep it going.
"A big thanks also to Kameron Tayor for bringing up all his teams from 100 Mile and PSO. He's got a wonderful program down there as well, which is making for some really great competitive rugby between our two schools."
