‘You can’t win them all’

Hants County’s Machine women lose rugby bout to Pictou County by one point

Rugby fans missed out on arguably one of the best local women’s rugby games of the season.

The Hants County Rugby Football Club’s Machine women took on the Pictou County RFC for a sweltering afternoon game July 28.

Even though the outcome wasn’t in the Machine’s favour, assistant coach Ben Brown was pleased with the effort.

“We lost by one point — very close — against a team that’s arguably our toughest challengers,” said Brown.

He noted that the teams are very similar in composition. The Pictou County team features a lot of St. FX student-athletes plus local players while the Machine is primarily comprised of Acadia University students and Hants and Kings County women.

“It was a very similar match up in as far as teams go so it was a really great game to watch,” said Brown. “Unfortunately we didn’t win, but you can’t win them all.”

The final score was 27-26.

“We had 17 players so we had very little subs,” said Brown. “The girls pulled together and played very strong. It was a very physical game, very challenging.”

The game marked the Machine’s last home game of the season. The Machine are presently 3- 1 on the season, with two regular season road games remaining against the Truro Saints and the Riverlake Ramblers. Once the final games are played, a schedule for the league championship will be set.

Brown said both the men’s and women’s rugby teams are exciting to watch and encourages people to cheer them on when they are in town playing.

“My mother always describes it as organized chaos,” said Brown with a laugh. “Once you kind of get the gist of what the game is about, it’s just a phenomenal game to watch.”