Comets earn an important  win over LCI Clippers

Posted on May 2, 2024 by admin

By Garrett Simmons
Westwind Weekly News

A weekend tournament in Edmonton gave the Raymond Comets senior girls rugby squad a shot at redemption, and the team didn’t disappoint.

Raymond met up with southern Alberta rival the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Clippers, a week after suffering a loss to LCI in league play. The result was different in Alberta’s capital, however, as the Comets ran to a 12-10 win.

“That was a very intense game,” said Raymond coach Dan Bikman. “It was a lot of back and forth and a lot of play in the middle of the field.”

The teams battled to a 5-5 draw at the half, before LCI went up 10-5. At that moment, the Comets had a choice – let the game get away from them or settle in for a battle.

“Our kids notched up the intensity,” said Bikman, who said once his team found itself in a hole, the players didn’t shy away.

Raymond found a seam up the middle of the field and raced away for a try to tie the game at 10. The convert gave the Comets a 12-10 lead the team would not squander.

“As a coach, that game had the look of something you would see in a zone or provincial final,” said Bikman. “For me as a coach, it was great to see the kids play as well as they could.”

That was a familiar trend on the weekend, as Raymond delivered a sound 66-6 win over Archbishop Jordan and took home a 40-0 victory over Edmonton’s St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School.

“That was a hard-fought game,” said Bikman, of the contest that was only 10-0 at the half.

A perfect tournament weekend was certainly punctuated by the LCI win, a victory the Comets hope to build on.

“What that did was let us know that we can compete with a team like that,” said Bikman, who added LCI does boast an extremely talented roster. “It showed our kids that if we try our best we can hold our own and even win.”

Last week in league play, the solid play continued with a 45-0 win in Taber over W.R. Myers. It was a score Bikman said was deceiving, in a game that was up for grabs at half with a 15-0 Raymond lead.

“Taber hit us hard, and it was a game where they (Myers) gave us a lot of chances to get our weaknesses exposed,” said the coach of the physical contest. “Our kids definitely walked away from that game quite sore.”

This week, Raymond had a league game scheduled for Wednesday against Chinook (score unavailable at press time) before having a weekend off.

In other Raymond rugby action, the Comets 7s team had a tournament at Chinook last weekend and went 3-0, which included a 30-10 win over Winston Churchill, a 40-0 triumph over Matthew Halton and a 40-0 victory over Chinook.