Eastman Warriors stumble out of the gates

The Eastman Warriors rugby team had picked up a rare loss, dropping their opening home match of the season to the Manitoba Wombats by a 38-26 margin June 26 at A.D. Penner Park.

The Warriors have lifted trophies at the end of three of the last four seasons, including two Premier Division titles, the first for any team outside of Winnipeg.

The team is dealing with a key departure this year, as star winger and reigning Manitoba senior player of the year, Jale Kaukirewa left the club to join the Vancouver Valley Vipers of the B.C. Rugby League.

The game against the Wombats was a tale of two halves, as the Warriors kicking game let them down in the first. With several kicks during the run of play going straight out of bounds, the Wombats took advantage to nab tries and earn penalty kicks on their subsequent possessions to build a solid lead.

The Warriors stayed in the match thanks to some opportunistic plays out of set pieces, eating up the yardage out of their own line-outs.

In the second half, the Warriors dominated possession, but were turned away at the goal-line several times, including having a try grounding attempt bounce off a Wombats defender’s leg and out of play.

The Warriors schedule takes a break in the next month, with a single match in July, scheduled for July 10 in Winnipeg. They have three home matches scheduled for consecutive weeks in August. A postponed match from earlier in the season has yet to be re-scheduled.

For more photos from the match, check out Carillon Second Shots, posted every Wednesday on thecarillon.com/sports.