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Marmots up to the challenge

A busy Canada Day long weekend and work demands took its toll on the Whistler Hoary Marmots Rugby Club, which was unable to field a full side for the annual Williams Lake 15-a-side Rugby Tournament.

A busy Canada Day long weekend and work demands took its toll on the Whistler Hoary Marmots Rugby Club, which was unable to field a full side for the annual Williams Lake 15-a-side Rugby Tournament.

With a few players on loan from other teams, including a member from the Abbotsford club who played the entire weekend in his underpants, they managed to squeeze in two games, plus an exhibition against the home side of Williams Lake.

On the first day of the competition, June 29, they scored first against the Chilliwack side, and the teams went into the second half tied with one try apiece. Chilliwack then scored three unanswered tries against the Whistler team.

"The problem is that we had a lot of backs, but not a lot of forwards," said David Cartwright, a Marmot who hails from Sydney, Australia.

The following day they played a ten-on-ten touch exhibition against a side from Williams Lake, with so many tries that the players stopped keeping track.

That afternoon the Whistler team played the Vancouver Rowing Club Rowers with a little help from other teams, and lost four tries to two.

While they didn’t have a full side, players from Whistler joined other teams that were missing players, scoring key tries.

Members of the Whistler women’s side also got into the action, winning 7-a-side games, and playing with other teams.

The next test for the Marmots is the 17 th annual 7-a-side tournament hosted by Simon Fraser University on July 13. After that there will be a 7’s tournament in Whistler, and a replay of last year’s exhibition game against the Rowers.

The team practices every Monday and Wednesday at Whistler Secondary, meeting at 6 p.m.