Eastman Warriors claim back-to-back rugby championships

It took over 100 years for a team from outside Winnipeg to win Manitoba’s top rugby championship, but the Eastman Warriors broke that streak last year and have quickly started a streak of their own.

The Warriors or other rural programs will have to win for 98 more years to equal that Winnipeg streak, but they took the first step Sept. 21, winning their second consecutive championship at the Maple Grove Rugby Park. Eastman defeated the Winnipeg Assassins 43-24.

The Warriors dominated the opening half of the game, seemingly scoring a try every time they gained possession of the ball in the early going. They went into the half-time break up 31-5.

Head coach Darian Brown said the team was eager to not repeat their last match against the Assassins, when the underdogs jumped out to a 34-24 lead before Eastman eventually came back in the second half.

“We couldn’t wait, like the last time we played them, we had to be right on them from the start,” Brown said, wet from a celebratory champagne shower.

“It’s definitely easier on the heart… To play with a lead is such a different feeling.”

The usual pattern of play for Eastman this season has been to wear down their opponents in the first half, before finally breaking through in the second using their talented wingers. In a change, those wingers struck early and often against the Assassins.

“There is nothing better than experience,” Brown said, noting the team had to come from behind last year to win the title.

“We talked about that all week before this game, we can’t afford to (think) ‘our athleticism will take over the game.’ That’s the weird thing about about sports, you can say all the things you want to, you still have to do it.”

Brown noted one of the hardest things in sports is to play with a lead, and the Warriors seemed much more tentative in the second half, taking some sloppy penalties to let the Assassins get a glimmer of hope. Brown credited the team’s substitutes for being able to step in off the bench and provide a spark.

“Their forwards are their strength,” Brown said.

“We heard talk, we heard the hubub about them coming in thinking they were take it to us. And you saw them pushing us back, and rightfully so, they’re very good. We had to hold our own and then get the ball to our backs, and we had to play defense… it was a battle.”

The Warriors top forward, as awarded by the Assassins was David Lautiki, with Napolioni Bolaca given the best back award and Simeli Naivalu winning the sportsmanship award.

Bolaca won a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics with Fiji in rugby sevens and played professionally in Fiji until 2022.

“I think we prepared well from the last two days,” Bolaca said.

“We were looking to come and dominate in the first half. We had to come with an high intensity game, and dominate in every breakdown.”

Bolaca said the team’s vast sevens background allows them excel when games open up. The Eastman crew boasts a dazzling array of sevens talent, and not just with the gold medalist. The team has won national sevens tournaments, and have experience playing the format throughout their entire lives.

“It’s natural,” Bolaca said.

“We came into that when we were kids growing up playing footy. That’s how we play rugby.”

Bolaca was sure to thank the team’s supporters who made the trip to Maple Grove to cheer for them in the final.

In several first half tries, as Warriors players ran up the right side of the pitch towards scoring, they were given an escort, as Eastman fans sprinted along the sideline with the player.

“We’ve set a standard, we know sports are cyclical, things go up and down, but we have set the bar and that’s exciting,” Brown said.

“Hopefully, and we’ve seen with some of our home crowds, you start to get a stir, a buzz about the team. We’ve got to keep working on grassroots, it’s easier said than done… We have to work on getting the young kids out, because our 40-year-olds are not getting younger.”

The Assassins may have lost out on the premier division title, but didn’t walk away from the day empty-handed, defeating the Rowdies 41-12 in the women’s premier final and the Wombats 36-30 in the second division final.