Coach Phil Holmes wants to ‘pack the field’
by Charles Dickson
Shawville
May 13, 2024
Phil Holmes is pumped. The girls’ rugby team he coaches at Pontiac High School is competing in a match in Shawville this Wednesday evening, and they are poised to do very well.
“We want to pack the field for this home game,” said the PHS teacher.
“Our girls won the [regional] championship last year, their first year back, and they’re undefeated so far this year,” he told THE EQUITY on Monday.
After an eight-year hiatus, Holmes restarted the girls’ rugby team at PHS late last year. They played some exhibition games in the fall and have been training all winter long, one practice each week.
According to Holmes, Philemon Wright has . . .
both guys’ and girls’ teams, and D’Arcy McGee has just a girls’ team. The PHS girls’ team will play teams from both the Hull and Aylmer high schools in back-to-back matches on Wednesday evening.
“It’s sevens rugby,” explains Holmes, meaning that while there are 20 girls on the team, there are only seven players on the field at a time. “So, it’s much shorter games than 15s rugby,” he said.
Holmes says PHS is also putting up a guys’ team of about 15 players, coached by Colin Forester, which will play against Philemon Wright, also on Wednesday. Holmes coached the Philemon Wright team for 12 years while he was a teacher there.
Wednesday’s games will be the third match in what is a short rugby season that started the first week of May and ends at the end of the month.
“If the girls win their games on Wednesday, then we’re guaranteed to host the championships at the end of May, which is exciting,” he said.
The games start at 6 p.m.
