As some of you may have noticed our old website has been down for a while, but has been replaced with this wonderful, clean and tidy, user-friendly version. A huge thank you is in order to External Relations Executive Member and second-row extraordinaire Kyle Cigolotti for his stellar internet-ing talents! Keep an eye on this page for updates, scheduled events and all other things Enfield RFC. With that, we are long overdue for an update.
First things first.
We are back up and training outside at the Lion’s Den again. It’s that time of year, the one that conjures up that bit of excitement in your belly: buds on the trees, flowers popping up, the grass turning from brown to green, and the home of the Enfield RFC filling back up on Tuesday and Thursday nights. It’s enough excitement to drag out even the surliest old boy/girl and you are certain to see Jack Heald wandering around the park kicking the tires and overseeing the action. We’ve had a lovely winter of training at the East Hants Sportsplex, but from here on out you’ll find us at the Lion’s Den from 6:00-8:00 every Tuesday and Thursday. And why not head down to Curly Portables for a pint after training on Thursday?
Enfield Banquet
Reaching back a bit, we had another lovely evening of celebration for the annual Enfield RFC Banquet to close out 2016. It was great to have the opportunity to get our players (present and past – like some way out of the woodwork), sponsors, families and supporters together for a fine meal, some kind words, awards and a lovely evening of dancing and merrymaking at Curly Portables back in December. It was great to showcase our promising and accomplished players from the minis through to the senior sides and fair to say it was Maelle who stole the show, and Brandon basically won all of the awards, way to get super fit and strong and good at rugby.
Award Winners:
Women’s Most Valuable: Daniela Mayo
Women’s Most Improved: Jacy McNutt
Women’s Rookie of the Year: Emily Valera
Women’s Coaches Award: Danielle Cable
Men’s Div I Most Valuable: Kyle Cigolotti
Men’s Div III Most Valuable: Brandon Horne
Men’s Div I Most Improved: Brandon Horne
Men’s Div III Most Improved: Precious and Johnny Legend
Men’s Rookie of the Year: Johnny Legend
Men’s Coaches Award: Brandon Horne
Club Contributor of the Year: Kyle Cigolotti
Enfield Banquet Photos courtesy of Chanee B's Photography
Rugby Nova Scotia Banquet
The club ventured out of Hants County and into, in the words of Alex Malay, the “Big City” for the Rugby Nova Scotia Awards Banquet at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in January. As always, the union put on a fine event to showcase the achievements of our provincial programs and players, and those of our clubs in the region. The event was MC’d by the one and only Drew Hutt who was as articulate and witty as he is handsome.
We are proud to announce that Michael Dickie was named the RNS Referee of the Year and that Stewart Cook was selected as the Senior Men’s Keltic of the Year for 2016. The Enfield RFC was nominated for the RNS President’s award, missing out narrowly to our good friends the Dartmouth Pigdogs, Daniela Mayo was a nominee for the Senior Women’s Keltic of the Year, as was Cameron Farnell for the U18 Keltic of the Year.
RNS Photos courtesy of Jennie Fougere
Newly Certified Coaches.
In February the club was pleased to send Saralynne Knockwood, Lyn Willis, Joel Doyle, Alex Malay, and Isaac Zinck to complete their World Rugby Level 1 NCCP Community Initiation course at Saint Mary’s University. We are really excited to see all of these folks involved in the club coaching set-up and helping to facilitate the school rugby programs at Hants East Rural High.
Sweetheart Sevens.
Our Second Annual Sweetheart Sevens Tournament was a smashing success in early February. With an increase to 24 participating teams in the 2017 edition, we were very pleased to see such competitive rugby played during the depths of winter and with the positive core values of our game on display throughout the day. Highlights of the day included the Mini Rugby Jamboree, watching the talent from our regional age-grade programs (Rugby NS and NB U18 male and female teams) front up against more seasoned senior club sides, and the enthusiasm with which our new friends from Baddeck took to each match, no matter the ‘raised with a cell phone’ v. ‘raised with a telegraph’ gap between sides. Congratulations to female champions Acadia Axewomen and male champions Saint John Trojans! We look forward to seeing everyone in February 2018!
Truro Sevens 2017.
Our annual trek to Turo came and went as it always does, with all of the bruises, lung infections, post-tournament depression and stories that it always does. As always, Enfield RFC made a fine contribution to the social aspect of the event, and put in a ludicrous amount of effort into their annual three-day-long costume party. Vikings!
High School Rugby.
Our local Hants East Rural High Tigers rugby teams are off to a fine start under the tutelage of a number of Enfield RFC coaches. Both the boys and girls teams have put in quality performances in the pre-season against Kings-Edgehill, and have split their opening matches with a girls win and boys loss to Northumberland and wins against North Nova. Be sure to keep an eye on the club social media for upcoming Tigers home games and get out and support the guys and girls.
Upcoming Games:
Tuesday, 2 May - JHG v. HERH (Girls) (Home)
Thursday, 4 May - NN v. HERH (Boys and Girls) (Away)
Monday, 8 May - CEC v. HERH (Home)
Tuesday, 9 May - NH v. HERH (Boys and Girls) (Away)
Fri-Sat, 12-13 May - PEI Tournament
Tuesday, 16 May - CEC v. HERH (Girls and Boys) (Away)
Tuesday, 23 May - Girls Regionals
Thursday, 25 May - Boys Regionals
Fri-Sat, 2-3 June - Provincials
Provincial Programs and Coaches.
We are proud to see that a number of our players and members are involved again this year with the Rugby Nova Scotia Keltics programs as players and coaches. While squads are still being finalized and ID camps on-going, we’ve seen players involved in nearly all of the men’s and women’s age-grade and senior training and are excited to see what is in store for the upcoming season. A tip-of-the-cap to Evan Dickie, head coach of the RNS U-18’s for guiding the young men to quality performances at the New York and Vancouver Sevens throughout the winter. For the U-18 XV’s Evan is joined by Enfield RFC members Drew Hutt and Mark Sweeney on the coaching staff.
Provincial Dates to be aware of:
Senior Men’s Keltics: Saint John, NFLD, June 16-18
Eastern Canadian Championships (Senior Women’s; Age-Grade): Saint John’s, NFLD, 6-11 July
CRC Women’s, U20/U19, Ontario v. Rock: Truro, NS, August
Ok, if you’ve made it that far you are probably pretty close to checked out. Keep an eye on this space for more frequent updates as the season starts to unfold.
… ’Magine
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