Cougars win hard-fought battle

TRURO - An undermanned Cobequid Cougars girls rugby team showed its heart yesterday in downing the Northumberland Nighthawks to advance to the regional
championship.
The girls defeated the Northumberland 18-10 behind trys from Kaitlyn Sears, Natalie Archibald and Sarah Nichols. They will travel to New Glasgow on Tuesday to play the North Nova Gryphons with a berth in provincials on the line.
The Nighthawks controlled the tempo during the first five to 10 minutes of yesterday's game before the Cougars calmed down and simplified their game. With strong rucking, Cobequid got back to executing their game plan and built a 15-10 lead at the half.
The Cougars, who have been decimated by injuries to key players this season, stuck together to win a hard-fought battle.
"Some weren't the starters at the beginning of the year but with injuries and everything else, a lot of them are in Grade 10, and I think they should be proud of the way they played. They didn't back down at all," said coach John MacKenzie.
Provincials will be hosted in the Annapolis Valley June 5 and 6.
Meanwhile, the CEC boys' team saw their season come to an end with a 30-12 loss to the Hants East Rural High Tigers.
"Going into it I didn't really see it as my last game but around the second half when we started falling pretty far behind it started to hit me," said third-year Cougar Mike Candolini. "I think we had a real problem with the heat, a lot of guys were sucking wind."
The loss was the Cougars' third of the season against the Tigers.
"It seemed any time we played (top-ranked) North Nova we played up to their level and whenever we played East Hants we played down to theirs," said Candolini, a scrumhalf who will represent Nova Scotia at the Canada Games this summer in Prince Edward Island.
He said the team was a good group of players who were fun to play, and hang out, with. "I just look back and enjoy the games I had with them," Candolini said.

jmallloy@trurodaily.com

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