After two years as head coach, Chris Jones looks to prove he’s built the foundation the women’s rugby team needs to succeed
For Chris Jones, leading the women’s rugby team has come with a fair share of ups and downs. In his opening season with the team in 2022, Jones led the team to a season with four wins and three losses, with the team ultimately losing in their first round of playoffs
The teams second season did not show much improvements from the first regarding how many games they lost versus how many they won. The Marauders finished with two wins and 4 losses in the 2023 season, and failed to secure a playoff spot.
As Jones embarks on his third year coaching the Marauders, he has aimed to clean up the problems which have caused his team to struggle. Taking advantage of the time during the preseason has been a key factor in creating a well organized team.
“We’ve done as good of a job as I think we can around having a clear language. In camp, if there's been confusion about the meaning of something, we’ve been able to work it out,” said Jones.
Allowing team members to be on the same page, and having a joint team vision seems to be a top priority for Jones. He looks to capitalize on this strength in the upcoming year.
“Our strength is our team vision and cohesion. What I love about rugby is that if you are clear and working toward the same strategic end, teams that maybe don’t have the Micheal Jordans of the world can still be competitive,” said Jones.
Our strength is our team vision and cohesion. What I love about rugby is that if you are clear and working toward the same strategic end, teams that maybe don’t have the Micheal Jordans of the world can still be competitive.
Chris Jones, head coach, McMaster women's rugby team
As the team heads into the 2024 season, a mix of first years along with a strong group of returning players look to carry the women’s rugby team to greater heights. Older experienced players will look to further implement Jones' tactics, as they’ve had two seasons to become accustomed to them.
“This year we’ve really solidified the way we want to play, the structure offensively. We’ll leave that in for a few years but it feels like we have a good set-up,” said Jones.
The Marauder’s kicked off their season with a home opener against Trent University on August 31st. Soon, they will face Brock University's team, ranked eighth in preseason statistics , in their second game of the season on September 7th.
To end the season the team will go up against a USPORT powerhouse team, Queen’s University, on October 5th. The Gaels are ranked second in preseason rankings. Despite these tough matchups, Jones' team aims to focus on what they can control throughout the season.
“A goal to say we want to get to the quarters or semi’s is not actionable, we can’t do anything about that. So one thing we want to see is us hitting our shapes, upwards of 50 per cent to 60,” said Jones.
A goal to say we want to get to the quarters or semi’s is not actionable, we can’t do anything about that. So one thing we want to see is us hitting our shapes, upwards of 50 per cent to 60.
Chris Jones, head coach, McMaster women's rugby team
With a key matchup coming up September 7th, against the Brock Badgers in St. Catharines, the Marauders and Jones will test their abilities against a high level team.
It’s the biggest margin of victory yet, but this time in an unfortunate Marauders loss for the Marauders women's rugby team
As the McMaster University women’s rugby team entered week five of competition, they geared up to face the Queen’s Gaels. The Gael’s hold the number one spot on the U Sports women's rugby leaderboard and are the reigning national champions. It was obvious from the get-go that it would be a tough match ahead.
Coming into the week McMaster ranked quite highly themselves, having secured the number nine position in the U Sports ranking. They were coming off a 77 to zero win against the Laurier Golden Hawks and looked to provide a real challenge for the Gryphons.
Unfortunately for the Marauders, they weren’t able to provide much resistance in their battle with Canada’s number one, losing by a final score of 96 to three. Following the loss, McMaster was removed from the U Sports top 10 list.
Facing a top ranked team has proven to be a challenge for most teams. The top five ranked teams have yet to be beaten.
Katie Mcleod, the captain of the women’s team, discussed how difficult it can be facing teams like the Gaels and the strategy that goes along with these big games to ensure the team keeps on moving forward.
“We’ve been focusing on setting goals going into games. Not necessarily score focused goals, but systems goals,” said Mcleod.
“We’ve been focusing on setting goals going into games. Not necessarily score focused goals, but systems goals,”
Katie Mcleod, Captain of women's rugby team
She noted her team seemed to know this game would result in a defeat, showing the importance of goal setting to continue measuring progress regardless of the outcome.
“Going into our Queen’s game, we kind of knew it would be a loss,” explained Mcleod.
The game ended going in the way of the Gaels, as was apparently anticipated. Mcleod was the lone scorer for the Marauders.
But why do these scores keep occurring? How do these substantial margins continue to happen game after game and for every team, not just McMaster?
“It comes down to the legacy that teams have developed. Some teams have full time head coaches, which provides for better recruitment,” said Mcleod.
This message seems to ring true, seeing the recent scores throughout the league. It also makes sense that stronger players recruited to only certain schools would lend itself to the creation of uneven scores. Though it looks like McMaster is trying to compete with these top ranked teams with the addition of head coach Chris Jones and his coaching staff.
“Now that we’ve gotten a new coaching staff, I know that recruitment has become something more on the radar. Hopefully in a few years we can be at a higher level,” explained Mcleod.
Looking to finish the season strong, the Marauders women's rugby team will face York and Brock to wrap up the season. It will become very important for the team to keep their focus on the season ahead, despite the prospect of a promising future they may already be looking forward to.
Despite not having a head coach anymore, third-year player Payton Shank takes us through what the women’s rugby team has been coping through this season.
As we enter the first couple weeks of 2021, many individuals continue to live their lives from inside their homes, just as they have been for most of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes countless student-athletes who have been sitting idle in their homes during the 2020-2021 season.
In October 2020, McMaster Sports announced the cancellation of winter sports for the 2021 year, ultimately closing any sort of hope for athletes to compete at a collegiate level. With that being said, many McMaster sports teams have found alternative measures in place of in-person activities, including the women’s rugby team.
Prior to the pandemic, the typical season of the women’s rugby team would begin with training camp in late August, where training would last from morning till night. Payton Shank, a third-year student in the human behaviour program commented on the summer training.
“You’re going non-stop every single day. You’re training in the heat, you’re tackling, hitting people and running around till you almost throw up, every day per week,” said Shank.
“You’re going non-stop every single day. You’re training in the heat, you’re tackling, hitting people and running around till you almost throw up, every day per week,” said Shank.
From training outside during the fall season to indoors in the High Performance Area during the winter season, there would not be enough words to highlight the intensity of these workouts.
As the first wave of the pandemic heightened in March, the university announced they would be shutting down all in-person classes and activities, including all sports matches and practices.
“I remember being in the HPA the day before everything closed down. We were trying to get the last workout in. We had to move to Zoom workouts at home. We [went] from using dumbbells and squat racks to putting cans or textbooks in your backpack,” said Shank.
Maintaining a workout routine is important so athletes do not revert into muscular atrophy and hence, do not spend as much conditioning time required once the new season begins.
When considering the topic of mental health, Shank identified that the loss of practices and in-person workouts has taken a toll.
“For me personally, it was very hard to be motivated. In fact, I was missing a vast majority of the workouts. [I thought:] “I can’t put myself through this, I have nobody to push me through this. I don’t have the HPA. I’m not blaring music like usual. I don’t have my team cheering me on”,” said Shank.
“For me personally, it was very hard to be motivated. In fact, I was missing a vast majority of the workouts. [I thought:] “I can’t put myself through this, I have nobody to push me through this. I don’t have the HPA. I’m not blaring music like usual. I don’t have my team cheering me on,” said Shank.
The weekly Zoom workout sessions have been a place of comfort for the rugby team, even if they just wanted to pop by and say “hi”. With that being said, the head coach of the rugby team quit this past season.
While many other McMaster sports teams were able to resume in-person training, women’s rugby was not able to do so. Shank emphasized that other universities’ women’s rugby teams have been able to train in-person, which puts McMaster at a disadvantage for the 2021-2022 season.
As the province is in lockdown with a stay-at-home order in place, there is still uncertainty about the future of the team’s season.
“We thought that we might get back into Sports Hall in [the David Braley Athletic Centre], that was our hope. Now, we’re still going to have to do Zoom calls unfortunately,” said Shank.
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“We thought that we might get back into Sports Hall in [the David Braley Athletic Centre], that was our hope. Now, we’re still going to have to do Zoom calls unfortunately,” said Shank.
Although the team is still currently without a head coach, Shank stated that there has been vast support for the women’s rugby athletes from Shawn Burt and Claire Arsenault, the director of athletics and recreation and the coordinator of athlete services, respectively.
Looking ahead to next season, there are many unanswered questions as to whether or not students will return to campus in fall 2021.
“I can’t see a season happening next year . . . but I do see us being able to train at least and getting into some facilities,” said Shank.
“I can’t see a season happening next year . . . but I do see us being able to train at least and getting into some facilities,” said Shank.
