Gator takes bite out of rugby competition
Lakeshore’s Kendra Cousineau adds another trophy to the mantle
In the nearly two years Kendra Cousineau has been playing rugby, she’s been on back-to-back championship teams with the Ontario Junior Blues U16 squad.
The Port Colborne teen was recently at the Canadian Rugby Championships in Calgary, where the Blues lost only one game, to British Columbia, during roundrobin play.
After defeating Alberta in the semi-finals, the team went on to play British Columbia in the finals and beating them 27-10, clinching the title and a gold medal.
Cousineau scored a conversion, worth two points, in that goldmedal game.
When not playing for the Blues or Lakeshore Catholic High School Gators, Cousineau plays for the Niagara Wasps, where she got her start in rugby.
“I thought it was an interesting game, just different from any other sport. My sister’s friend’s dad, who is part of the club, always talked to me about playing. And my two high school coaches were, ‘Oh, you’re going to play rugby,’” she said.
Cousineau’s mother, Sherri, said the Wasps Erin Risto let her daughter practice with the club for a year, at its Barron Road field in Thorold, when she was underage.
“They have a really good program out here, rookie rugby for the kids … a really good base program to get people involved and started,” said Sherri.
Sherri said her daughter has had a chance to work with a lot of elite coaches this past year because she was with Ontario.
“Working with Rugby Ontario and Rugby Canada she’s had a lot of great coaching opportunities from the ground up to the higher level. It’s been an excellent experience. She’s worked hard and put in a lot of time and effort into and it shows,” said Sherri.
Once she started playing for the Wasps, who were once based on Second Concession in Port Colborne, Cousineau played both the full game of 15s and also 7s.
In the 15s game, there are 15 players per team on the field playing two 40 minute halves. Sevens sees seven players per side playing seven minutes halves.
“They’re both totally different games … the pace of them and skill wise. Sevens is more athletic. If you can run, it’s a great game. Fifteens is more skills, more technical I guess.”
Before she started playing rugby, Cousineau was involved in other sports.
She played hockey for nine years, including a year on the Lakeshore team, and also played volleyball, basketball, ran cross-country in elementary school. She was also the junior athlete of the year last year at Lakeshore.
While her season is over for the Blues and the Wasps 15s, she starts up with a regional team this fall. She could be chosen to play on an under-18 provincial team, which would start up in March of next year.
Lakeshore’s 15s team, she said, also starts in March of next year, but the school’s 7s team starts up again in October.
Cousineau, who starts Grade 11 this September, said playing for Canada in the Olympics is a goal of hers.
“If I get there, it would be great. If not, anything short would still be good.”