Lukas Bernasiewicz
On Oct. 16, the Oakville Crusaders Rugby Club held a province-wide tournament at their esteemed facility near Ninth Line and Dundas in Oakville.
The tournament consisted of men’s and women’s rugby games involving age groups between 13-18 years of age. The age groups that played were the U14, U16, and U18.
All fields of the Crusaders fields were being used at the same time in order to accommodate all of the teams that ventured out to Oakville. Attendees said the event itself was a ginormous success for all members involved.
U14 Teams
In the U14 age group, both Crusaders teams played well - both the girl’s and boys’ teams made it all the way to the finals of their group.
Both Crusaders’ squads fought through much adversity to get all the way to the finals as they persevered through a wet and rainy day to make it all the way to the finals of their age group.
Unfortunately for these squads, both teams lost in the final game. The girl’s squad lost to the Barrhaven rugby squad and the boy’s team lost to the Kingston Panthers.
U16 Teams
Both U16 Crusaders teams performed valiantly at the tournament also. The Boy’s team had the most success as they made it all the way to the finals against Toronto. Unfortunately, the boys fell short in the final game and lost giving Toronto the U16 crown in this tournament.
The girls' team did not meet the same success as the boys did as they did not reach the finals of the age group. They did, however, play extremely good rugby and had great team spirit throughout the day and made strides to build off of. The U16 girls crown was captured by the Aurora Barbarians as they beat the Oshawa Vikings.
U18 Teams
The boy’s and girl’s squads in the U18 division also had a great performance.
The boy’s squad made it all the way to the finals and beat Barrhaven to capture the U18 crown. It was an amazing performance by the team as they played many games throughout the day and showed great team spirit throughout and won their division.
The Girls squad was not able to have as much success as they did not reach the finals but they displayed a great attitude and played to the best of their abilities all day long. The U18 division was captured by the Oshawa Vikings as they beat the Barrhaven squad.
During the tournament a member of the league said this about how the day went saying, "We are really satisfied with everything, it is just great to see sport back especially in an outdoor environment like this where we can enjoy nature. It’s really great to re-connect with all of our rugby partners and see the kids have a blast."
