CONESTOGA 31, SHERIDAN 22

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. - One of the basic tenets of team sports is that even though the scoreboard dictates who wins and who loses, it doesn't always reveal the entire story.

So while the Sheridan Bruins men's rugby team (1-4 OCAA) was on the wrong side of a 31-22 scoreboard against Conestoga, their effort and compete level was high for nearly the full 80 minutes, and provides empirical evidence as to how much development the team has undergone in their first two months of existence.

"We're proud of the guys; collectively we feel as though they've come a long way," assistant coach Trevor Figueira said. "What I mean by that is that they finally understand that as a team they need to work together to accomplish their goals. I thought today's effort all over the field was positive. So I think they fully understand now what it takes to play good rugby, and they're getting there."

The opening minutes provided a few scoring opportunities for both sides as a pair of Sheridan infractions 20-yards from goal allowed Conestoga two opportunities for penalty kicks, and while neither cleared the bar by much, they were both good to put the homeside up 6-0.

Sheridan answered back with a penalty of their own, as Brandon Campbell converted from close range, cutting the margin in half.

Conestoga was able to score a pair of tries to push the Bruins into an 18-3 deficit, but just before the half the Double-Blue responded when Nujan Keshavarz touched it down under the posts and Campbell converted to make it an 18-10 game at the break.

The visitors found themselves in another sizeable deficit after Conestoga another try and a penalty kick, making it 26-10 game, nearing the hour mark.

They knocked a big chunk of the Conestoga lead out though when Nicholas Walko powered his way through a pair of defenders and touched it down just over the line.

Campbell converted to cut the Conestoga advantage to nine, as the Bruins trailed 26-17.

They continued their rally and pulled to within two, 26-24, when Brett King broke a tackle at the mouth of the goal to score the club's third try of the game. Campbell once again tacked on the conversion.

However Conestoga had the final say in the scoring summary, adding another try in what ended up being the game's final play.

The Bruins now have two weeks off before their regular season finale at home against Humber on October 28.

Figueira says that with the improvements their side has made in recent weeks, they will use that time to continue pushing the knowledge base of the players forward, while adding in some new wrinkles.

"Now that we have a good fundamental platform to build on, we feel as though we can add some specific tactical plays and strategic things we can do to our game, that we couldn't do before," he said. "So with that platform, we can develop a few plays and some specific attack moves. And we think that we'll be a lot harder to play against this time."

Source: Sheridan I.T.