After a little more than a year of no rugby action the Krems Rugby Football Club is excited to be on the field, while preparing for an upcoming condensed season within the North Saskatchewan Rugby Union (NSRU).
The Krems usually start training as a team indoors during the winter months, but that didn’t happen this year because of COVID-19 restrictions, and for the longest time it didn’t look like there was going to be a rugby season for the second straight year in a row.
Mason Switzer, who is a coach and player for the Krems, was very surprised that a season was going to be played this year.
“It wasn’t even on my radar. I thought maybe we would be able to get together and do some touch practices and still play with COVID safe rules,” he said. “So when I found out that we were actually going to be able to have a contact season, I was shocked.”
Even though it is a condensed season, which is set to begin mid-July, nobody is complaining because everybody on the team is just happy to be playing rugby again, after a long break.
“It’s almost kind of like a euphoric feeling. Just getting back onto the pitch and seeing a bunch of guys you haven’t seen in person for the better part of a year or so,” said Switzer.”
The Krems began practising outside at the rugby pitch in Saskatoon in early June. Switzer mentioned that the first few practices were non-contact drills, just to shake off the rust from not playing in such a long time.
Before the pandemic, the Krems had recently been having their practices in Warman, but the team couldn’t do that this year because as part of the return to play protocol, all teams within the NSRU had to practice at the rugby facilities in Saskatoon.
The majority of the players on the Krems team are from the communities surrounding Saskatoon which include the Warman area. Switzer himself is originally from Warman and he is a veteran member of the Krems after playing rugby with the junior Springboks team, which is based out of Warman.
“I’ve been with the Krems for about eight or nine years, but I started out as the original captain of the Springboks when we started back in 2013,” he said.
Since it is a late start to the rugby season, Switzer said there will be no game-play for the junior division, but there is opportunity for those respective players to participate in some rugby activity.
“The Springboks aren’t playing (this year) but we have a juniors training camp where they are going to be able to develop skills.” said Switzer.
A lot of the current members of the Krems have played rugby with the Springboks and that program has been huge in developing players to play at the senior level with the Krems, and Switzer wants to see that program return for the 2022 season.
Despite the year long absence, Switzer said their hasn’t been a drop in players for the Krems and he expects the team to have a lineup of 25 to 30 players.
“Especially with the time off guys were itching to get back in to doing something, said Switzer. We have a large group of committed guys that were really happy and excited to come back.”
Overall, Switzer is excited to get back to playing the sport once again.