The California Grizzlies brought two teams to Seattle’s Starfire Sports for an XV Series showcase last weekend, and the match marked the women’s second fixture in as many weeks. Some new players worked in and the select side was steady in slick conditions, resulting in a 79-7 win against the Orcas.
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Dany Samreth was part of the Grizzlies’ assessment team before program director Adriaan Ferris asked the SF Fog’s X-Man (a nickname that refers to his willingness to play any position) to become the women’s team head coach.
“I’m neutral. I’m Switzerland,” Samreth said of his lack of connection to any senior women’s clubs. “The All Blues and Life West are the powerhouses in this area, so it’s hard not to be familiar with their player pool, but we have players from other clubs on the field. I don’t have any allegiances. I’m just looking for good rugby players, and maybe I can see things from a different perspective.”
The Grizzlies had a handful of training sessions before the team’s first-ever game on Sept. 11. The Colorado Gray Wolves, a stand-alone Women’s Premier League team, flew to San Francisco and a fantastic game followed.
“Three practices is not enough time to prepare but everyone – especially in the USA – when they first started playing rugby, probably had two practices before someone put a jersey on them and said, ‘Go play flanker,’ or ‘You’re a wing,’” Samreth waxed nostalgic. “There was some anxiety and nerves, but the beauty of it all was having very experienced players who knew how to lead even though we had some very green, but very talented, players.”
In particular, Grizzlies center Rachel Pau’u showed well and continues to soak up all that elite talent around her.
“When you surround them with awesome veteran players like Shelby Lin and OBH [Olivia Bernadel-Huey], it helps them learn faster and raise their game,” Samreth said. “That is what this program is about.”
The Grizzlies ended up losing the Gray Wolves match 26-24, but heaps of intel came out of the competitive contest.
“It was just learning where everything fit in,” Samreth said of general takeaways. “We needed to tighten up our attack and our defensive strategy – you could see they seemed a little bit lost when I started making subs early in the second half. … I don’t want to use the word, ‘failure,’ but when you’re looking for improvement, you can coach that better when you don’t have an overly big win. Otherwise, it’s, ‘Oh, we won so we don’t have anything to work on.’ It allows us to be more introspective. We all love winning but this is more about the development of players.”
Co-captain Nicole Strasko was unavailable for the Seattle game, and Tahlia Brody stepped into the No. 8 role. Otherwise, the starting roster was the same as it was against the Gray Wolves. The bench, however, included nearly all new players, ranging from recent college graduates to Rugby World Cup pool players.
The game conditions also differed from the team’s opener. The game was formatted into four quarters, and a lightning delay also brought slick conditions.
“But right from the get-go, the players knew to be aggressive, especially up front, which they were,” Samreth said. “They just connected really well, and the support lines just worked.
“Tahlia and Jett [Hayward] were all over the place, and that really helped our backs’ play,” the coach continued. “Rachel scored right away and we were up 28-0 right off the bat. That helped carry us through, even as we took some injuries and made substitutions early on. We just kept going. The only time they scored was a momentary lapse. We were close to scoring but they intercepted us and scored. That was bad on us.”
Lauren Barber accounted for Seattle’s try and earned Back of the Match honors on the day. Brody, Pau’u, Evan Hoese, Kristen Siano, Neti Tuavua, Bulou Mataitoga and Leila Opeti were among the Grizzlies’ try-scorers.
“It was a surprising scoreline, just because Seattle played a pretty good game,” Samreth said. “The score doesn’t reflect how hard they came out and the amount of ball they stole from us.
“We have plenty of work-ons,” the coach continued. “Our kicking game needs to be better and we need to ID the areas where we control the game. We could have been a little cleaner of several things – how we take the ball into contact – and taken advantage of more opportunities. The hard part is, when you go blazing into the first quarter and take an early lead, there’s a loosening up a bit.”
The Grizzlies are taking a three-week break and will reassemble once more fixtures are secured. The women’s team doesn’t currently have anything on the calendar, but things change frequently in the Covid-19 era. In the future, the idea is year-round programming and rolling membership for those aspiring to play at the select-side level. There’s hope for another formal combine in the spring, but those details are TBA.