X-Women hungry for CIS rugby title

The St. Francis Xavier X-Women have won 14 Atlantic conference rugby titles in a row and have just one loss in their last 58 regular-season games.
 
They’ve been in the Canadian championship final five times in the past six years, collecting gold in 2010 and 2006.
 
They’ve got 11 starters back from last season’s national silver medallists and they’re the top-rated team in the first CIS poll of the season.
 
And now their pride is wounded.
 
If the X-Women’s past dominance isn’t daunting enough for the rest of the AUS, it can’t be good news that they’re angry and anxious to redeem themselves at the Canadian championship they’ll host in November.
 
“Last year we lost in the (CIS) final to Guelph and it’s probably our worst game that we played in three years and the girls really took it to heart,” X-Women coach Mike Cavanagh said Thursday.
 
“We put a lot of work in on the off-season and they’re fit and they’re ready to roll. They’re a bit embarrassed by last year’s final.”
 
The X-Women kick off their season on the road Sunday afternoon against the Saint Mary’s Huskies, who are entertaining the Acadia Axewomen tonight in the league opener.
 
Among those returning and intent on wiping out the memories of their 28-0 loss to Guelph are conference all-stars Asya Bartley, Magali Harvey, Amanda Thornborough, Lisa Gauthier and two-time league MVP Tyson Beukeboom.
 
Harvey, Thornborough, Gauthier and Beukeboom all played last month on the Canadian team that won gold at the North America Caribbean Rugby Association championship in Ottawa, earning a berth in next year’s World Cup in Russia.
 
The X-Women, 5-0 in exhibition play, will host the CIS championship Nov. 1-4 in Antigonish.
 
As hosts, they’ve got an automatic berth in the tournament. But Cavanagh said there’s no chance that his team rests on its laurels with that spot already sewn up.
 
Instead, having the nationals on home turf will provide extra motivation, he said.
 
“We never came back so fit,” he said. “Winning breeds success. They come here to a strong program wanting to win. We push ourselves very hard.”
 
The Atlantic conference, which has grown to five teams with the addition of the St. Thomas Tommies, will send two teams to the Canadian championship.
 
Cavanagh said that’s good news for a league that’s long been overshadowed by the X dynasty.
 
“Our league’s getting better and better every year. We’re getting better too but I think the rest of the teams in the conference would do very well in the rest of the country. If we stuck them in any conference, they’d be competitive.”