Terrace’s Northmen saw a rough rugby match against the Williams Lake Rustlers two weekends ago at the Northwest Community College field, but ultimately rallied during the second half to finish with a 19-19 draw.
“A win would have been nicer but it was a hard fought game,” said Northman Adam Linteris of the May 31 game. “Better to take a tie than a loss.”
The team came out a little flat to start, but as the game progressed the Northmen found their rhythm and fought back against the strong Williams Lake squad.
“Williams Lake brought a pretty tough team,” said Linteris. “It was definitely not their best squad but they were very good and came out playing really strong.”
The turning point for the Northmen came in the second half.
“We subbed some players in and put in Carlin Wilkins and he kind of took control of our back line and started putting pressure on Williams Lake from there,” said Linteris.
The team’s back line is one of the Northmen’s strongest assets, and they were having a “little big of trouble that day,” he said. “Luckily our four pack kind of kept us going and everyone played well in the end.”
Wilkins would go on to be named player of the game and back of the game, with Ryan Watson taking forward of the game.
The game was very physical and the team struggled with their flow to start.
“We were kind of in a 7s mindset, so things just weren’t flowing the way they should have in 15s,” Linteris said. “We’ve got a few things to work on in the next two weeks to get ready for Prince George. But it was good, we know exactly where are weak points are now and we can clean that up.”
The team meets Prince George for their second official league game at Seafest in Prince Rupert June 14. The Northmen will also play another couple of exhibition 10s games over the weekend.