Axemen top Wolverines
David Voye Memorial tournament underway in Summerside
A very physical all- Prince County clash kicked off the 22nd annual David Voye Memorial rugby tournament on Thursday evening.
The host Three Oaks Axemen defeated the Westisle Wolverines 24- 5 in what also counted as a P. E. I. School Athletic Association Senior AAA Boys Rugby League contest.
“The guys played well,” assessed Axemen head coach James Voye. “We played a game at Gray on Tuesday, and two games in three days is hard on the body.
“We reacted well, we defended early, we got on the board first and a goal for us was to try and score first. Credit to Westisle, they fought hard the entire game, came out ready to tackle and compete.” Wolverines head coach Randy Harper was very pleased with what he saw from his team. “We have worked extremely hard this season, and we have put a lot of work in over the past year,” said Harper. “We have a number of players who participated at the provincial level at U18 over the summer, and as a direct result of that I have seen huge improvements in my players.
“TOSH is a very dominant team, and is always a worthy opponent. Our game plan wasn’t so much come in and win, our game plan was to come in, perform and give them a run for their money. It was one of the better matches that we’ve had against them in a long time. I’m very proud of my boys, very pumped for the season ahead of us and can’t wait to see what happens.”
A total of 28 teams – 16 girls and 12 boys – are taking part in the three- day tournament, which continues until the championship games Saturday afternoon.
The Charlottetown Rural and Montague boys met in Thursday’s other tournament game at Rural, but the score of that game was unavailable at deadline time.
Scoring stats
At the Canada Games pitch on the grounds of Three Oaks Senior High School, Cole Adams, Parker Arsenault, Ben Tanton and Ben Thompson counted trys for the Axemen. Kaleb Dawson kicked two converts. Derek Arsenault scored Westisle’s try.
Despite the result, there was a lot of positivity on the Westisle sideline throughout the game.
“I’m a firm believer that it’s 80 per cent attitude,” explained Harper. “So much about the game is about being pumped, being positive and putting your best foot forward.
“You can’t do that if your head is hanging down. Something I have worked on with my team as much as I can is to stay positive.
“It doesn’t matter if we are losing 100- 0, we are out here because we love the game. I don’t care about the score. I care about are they having fun, are they enjoying it and are they playing to the best of their potential. If not, then we need to address that.”
The Wolverines also earned the respect of the Axemen. “They really worked hard,” offered Voye. “You can see an improvement happening within their program, which is a good sign for high school rugby.
“The fact that they kept playing even when they were down was important, because a lot of teams lose that motivation to be out there once you get down in games.”
Voye acknowledged the Axemen are missing some key players this weekend.
“It’s an opportunity for some of the younger guys to play a little bit,” said Voye. “It might take us a little longer to get going in games, but from a development side guys are going to get to play. At the end it should make a difference.”