Sutherland rugby coach Brad Thornhill admits that his knowledge of the sport was pretty limited when he first started a Grade 8 program at the school in 2008.
"All I knew about rugby back then was run forward, pass backward," he told the North Shore News Friday.
Thornhill himself went to school at Vancouver's Magee secondary in the 1980s when it was a relative rugby powerhouse but, lacking a bit of size, he was much more likely to be in the stands watching the games than on the pitch playing them.
"I went to the first rugby practice in Grade 8 in 1982," Thornhill said. "We had a full-contact practice, full tackle, no mouth guards, nothing. I went to tackle one of the biggest kids in the Grade, went head-to-head with him. . . . My buddy was playing badminton, so I joined the badminton team."
That lack of first-hand rugby knowledge, however, did nothing to stop Thornhill from starting up a program when he arrived at Sutherland as a teacher. He got rugby going simply because he saw a need for another sport, he said.
"When I first got to Sutherland there were soccer guys and there were basketball guys, and that was kind of it," he said. "I noticed that there were guys graduating that you could tell were good athletes but soccer or basketball wasn't necessarily their game. Guys were graduating without really having played a lot of sports. Getting rugby in there provided another opportunity for a different kind of athlete. It just gave guys another option to play sports."
That first year was rough though. Playing in the North Shore Grade 8 league against teams with long, proud rugby traditions, the Sabres lost their first eight games, some by massively lopsided scores. Their season came down to a showdown against Windsor, another fledgling team that also had a 0-8 record.
"We won 10-0 in just a clash of the Titans," said Thornhill with a laugh. "It's funny though — the guys had lost eight games in a row leading up to that game. Winning that last game, they fell in love with rugby. That's kind of where it all got started. The next group coming in the next year, there was more excitement about rugby. We had a better season, and it's just kind of gone from there."
Over the next few years there was a steep learning curve for everyone, including the coach. But Thornhill, already installed as one of the school's go-to basketball guys, said that coaching is coaching no matter what the sport.
"Just like I learned basketball and other sports, you study up, you talk to other coaches, there's so much online that you can learn," he said. "I find the rugby coaches on the North Shore, they're all totally happy to share their expertise. It's really collegial, I find. Each year I peel off another layer and learn more and more. It's been a lot of fun totally learning a new sport."
The school was also gifted with a couple of elite talents including provincial team players Jake Knapton and all-around star Cole Keffer, who has suited up for Canadian national teams in both rugby and ultimate and is now a starter as a freshman on the UBC rugby team. Due to the ebbs and flows of the new rugby program, Keffer only suited up for two Sutherland rugby teams and never got to play at the senior level. His presence at the school, however, helped elevate the sport.
"Even though those guys only played two years of rugby, all these younger guys saw what Cole and those guys did and I definitely think it helped with the momentum," said Thornhill. "(Now) this is a totally different crew of guys and they're into it. They're having a blast." This year is the first that Sutherland has fielded a senior team and it has done very well so far, posting an undefeated record in the Lower Mainland Tier 2 league against other new-ish programs. That success stems from years of competition at the younger age groups against elite North Shore teams, said Thornhill.
"The North Shore league is so competitive," he said. "Now that we're crossing the bridge and playing those other (Tier 2) teams, all those tough games in Grade 8, 9 and 10 against Rockridge, and Carson, and Collingwood all of them are really good teams - we cross the bridge and all of a sudden it's like, 'Hey guys, we're actually quite good.' We just happen to be playing in what is, I think, the toughest league anywhere. Every game that we play in Grade 8, 9 and 10, they're going up against kids from the (Capilano) Rugby Club, or they have coaches who played premier or Canada rugby, or have been coaching rugby for 30 years, or did both. The competition level here is so good that playing against all those guys in Grade 8, 9, and 10 — anybody else that we play against, we're going to be fine."
The Sabres now have a few high-level players such as Ty Powell, a junior member of the Capilano Rugby Club, on the roster, but for the most part the players are not rugby experts, said Thornhill.
"We have guys who are just good athletes who want to come out and play," he said. "What I love about this team is we have a bunch of Grade 12 guys in their final sports season saying, 'Hey, I haven't really done a lot at Sutherland. I want to play on a team.' They've never played rugby before, they just want to give it a try. . . . They're good athletes and they pick things up quickly and they're competitive, so they're doing great out there."
Thornhill is hoping the team will jump into the dog-eat-dog world of Tier 1 rugby soon, although he knows they'll have their work cut out for them against the North Shore's best.
"I think we do need to challenge ourselves and going Tier 1 is the next step, I hope," he said. "Just like with any high school sport you've got to keep promoting it and keep working at it. If you get comfortable and relax for a year or two, your sport falls. Kids come and go so quickly, you've got to constantly keep working and try to get better. You can't let it slip. . . . If we can get more players and more coaches involved — there are so many great athletes at this school, I think things would just take off."
No matter where the program goes from here, Thornhill has thoroughly enjoyed watching it grow so far.
"It's awesome, I love it," he said. "There's something about the game of rugby — it really brings teams together. The camaraderie of the guys on and off the field, it's really special. All these guys who maybe never would have been friends are now like best buddies because in the middle of a rugby game you have to support your teammates. They're supporting each other, and that feeling definitely carries off the field. It creates great bonds between all the guys."
The senior Sabres will take on the B-team from St. Georges, the defending AAA champion school, in an exhibition match next week before jumping into the Lower Mainland Tier 2 playoffs beginning May 6.
