When you’re hot, you’re hot.
The Bow Valley Grizzlies have been on a tear since coming back from a month-long break.
On Aug. 3, the Grizz smashed the Calgary Saints 61-0 in Calgary Rugby Union Division Two action at Spray Lake Sawmills Legacy Field, before laying another smackdown on Aug. 6, against the Calgary Rams with a 77-0 win.
“The boys have been doing very well and I’m happy with the effort they’ve been giving on the pitch and in training,” said Grizz head coach Tyler Hawes. “Hopefully we can keep it going and not let our heads get too big.”
During the whole month of July, the Grizz trained and worked on implementing a new system, and it’s been one that’s seen instant results.
“Coming off two straight losses, the system Ty implemented allowed us to do well against the Hornets (whom they defeated 98-0 on June 25), we spent all month honing it and fine tuning,” said Grizz player Anthony Battistone. “Everyone was able to fill in different roles and understood what our offence was about, as well as our new defence, which allows us to get in opponents’ faces.”
Despite their three-game win streak, Hawes never expected the results to be this excellent so early on.
“I didn’t know we’d get this good of results,” he admitted. “The system was all about opening up doors in the play. We worked on opening up the pitch and spreading the play a lot more, as well as attacking space.
“We’ve got the personnel to do it, so it’s gone as well as I could ask.”
Another aspect of this new system the Grizz can be happy about, as much as if not more so than their high try count (outscoring opponents a total of 138-0 over two games, 236-0 over three), is how they have managed to shut down teams, especially the Rams, who are one of the top teams in the league.
“With the new style, teams are making more handling errors rather than us looking to steal the ball,” Battistone said. “We’re putting a lot of pressure on them, getting three shutouts in a row in rugby is huge, especially after the first couple games this season where we shipped 20 or 30 points a game.”
While things have been playing out to perfection on the pitch for the Grizz, one area they still have some problems with is getting a lot of players out to every game.
“That’s something we struggle with,” Battistone said. “It’s the same 12 to 14 guys we out each week. People have jobs or are out of town, which is understandable. It’s the guys we try to get out who we don’t know where they are.
“Still though, seeing the same guys out each week and the massive improvements they’ve made has been great.”
The Grizz next face off against the Calgary Saracens on Aug.13, in what is going to be a test between two teams vying for first position in the league, with three regular-season games left.
“They’ve got only one loss this season, and we’ve got two,” Hawes said,” So, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens.
“It’ll be another physical game against a big, physical team.”
Kick-off is 1:45 p.m. at the Calgary Rugby Union.
