The seasons of the joint rugby teams of Bow Valley High School and Cochrane High School are now going full bore.

Both the boys Bears and girls Wild are two games into their regular season and play resumes this Wednesday after they participated in the 19th annual High School Icebreaker tournament of the Calgary Canadian Irish Athletic Club on Saturday.

The Bears had their second consecutive win of the season on Apr. 27 against the Foothill Composite Falcons, 15-14, although the score doesn't properly reflect how dominate the Bears were on the pitch. Coach Karl Bauer explains they took advantage of a healthy lead to bring in their second stringers.

"We have a game plan and we were leading 15-0 at the half so I wanted some of our second stringers to work through that plan," excplains Bauer.  "It's a little bit complicated for a rugby set so even some of the junior club guys who are just starting high school this year have issued with it. I knew it would be tough for a lot of them and I wanted them to get this game experience, especially against the good teams."

Foothills is normally a tier 1 team team and won silver at last year's provincials. The Bears are tier 2, although they do have the option to bump up to tier 1.

The Bears' bench may be a wee bit shorter this year with 26 on the roster but Bauer likes what he sees so far.

"We had more numbers but our skill level this year has gone up by a decent amount for the most part. We have a lot of returning players who are pretty solid."

The Bears took advantage of the Irish tournament to give their younger players more experience and it was also a chance to size up potential competitors in June's provincials.

"I'm really comfortable with how our first string looks now--they look almost unstoppable--but I want those support guys there for them so that when they start flagging in 50-60 minutes I've got someone there to take their spot if they're injured. We are really focusing on developing our depth more than anything right now."

Prior to this, the Bears may play for the zone high school banner, although right now it appears the only other tier 2 team is from Strathmore.

 The Bears also won their season opener against Holy Trinity Academy, 12-7.

The recently renamed Bow Valley Cochrane High girls team is now 1-1 after two games.

The Wild beat Holy Trinity 19-5 in their season opener but fell to Foothills 53-17 in game two. 

Head coach Roberta Stinn says good things can come from a loss. 

"If you win too many games, sometimes you get a little too high on your horse, so I think they'll be able understand now there are wins and there are losses," says Stinn, who played for the team in 2011 and 2012, "and that they still need to work hard and there's lots of room for improvements. I think the girls recognize that and are willing to work hard."

To the team's advantage is the number of athletes on the team and the further expansion of women's rugby beyond the high school level to help stir interest. They have their strongest bench strength yet since the team was formed in 2010 with 34 players on the roster.

When Stinn played for the team she was the only player from Cochrane High School but that has also changed over time. Now the roster is practically 50-50 between the two schools.