Expectations high for St. Francis Xavier in AUS women’s rugby

Courtesy Monty Mosher, The Chronicle Herald

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

A casual glance at the history of AUS women's rugby would suggest the St. Francis Xavier X-Women play in a league of their own.

All 16 championships are tucked away in Antigonish and many of the banners were won with little opposition.

But the women's rugby world has changed in recent times with more talent coming into the AUS and being spread further afield.

The X-Women, with a relatively new lineup in 2013, lost on opening day to the Acadia Axewomen and ended up second despite both finishing with 7-1 records.

The conference title game between the two in Charlottetown was an instant classic with the X-Women scoring late in overtime to win 19-12 and advance to the nationals, where they placed fifth.

The 2014 season opens Saturday with the X-Women at Saint Mary's in one of two games. Acadia visits UPEI.

"I think we're going to be young again," said head coach Mike Cavanagh. "We've brought in 15-16 new players who are going to impact the team.

"I think we're very athletic. We've got a lot more size this year and I think we're going to be right back into a hunt for the national championship."

Cavanagh agrees that the AUS is becoming tougher to win.

"Every year the teams we play are getting better," he said. "Last year we lost 12 of our 15 starters so we were very young. But every year the teams we play in the conference improve a whole bunch, so it's good for the AUS."

The ongoing upturn in the popularity of women's rugby in the country can be traced back to the X-Women in some measure.

Four former X-Women — Magali Harvey, Tyson Beukeboom, Olivia DeMerchant and Amanda Thornborough — were part of Canada's silver-medal winning team at the recent World Cup. Acadia grad Andrea Burk was also on the team.

"It's probably the fastest growing sport for females in the country," said Cavanagh.

"Even here in Nova Scotia there are more and more high school players. The talent is getting better. It's attracting better players. It's definitely on the rise."

Vanessa Duffley and Ali Munroe are the biggest losses to the X-Women.

Natalie Lesco, just back from a successful stint with Canada's under-20 program, said the league is getting better, but the X-Women are getting stronger, too.

She said the team's goals never change.

"Our mindset every year is to go after that national championship trophy," said Lesco, from London, Ont. "From the beginning of the season right to the end, we remind ourselves that's we are chasing and that's what we're here for."

This year team should be more stable with more returning players.

"Our skill base is probably a little bit stronger," she said. "I think we have more girls who know the game and have been playing it a bit longer and we definitely haven't lost as many key players."

Catharine MacKeigan, from Toronto, said it was disappointing not to win at nationals last year. The X-Women won it all in 2012.

However, the team had some learning to do a year ago. Many of the players were in their first CIS tournament.

"It was a nice learning experience for us," she said. "It was not so much expected, but we definitely knew it was going to be a tough challenge winning nationals again with such a young team."