Bow Valley Bobcats boys rugby team is undefeated in their first two games of the high school rugby season after a 19-10 win over the Holy Trinity Trojans last night.

It was a passionate matchup In their final home game of the short Big Sky regular season.

"It was very close and very hard fought," says Karl Bauer, Bobcats head coach. "Holy Trinity always give us a good game. They've been our rival probably for the better part of the decade."

One player from each team was red-carded and ejected from the game when tempers flared in the second half and shoving gave way to fists being thrown.

With the score 10-8 at the half, the Bobcats defence kept the Trojans tied up in their own end most of the second half.

"It did get a little bit heated," says Bobcats head coach Karl Bauer. "We'll have to look through the film to see what caused that. We have a group of passionate boys this year, although that's not an excuse to behave that way. I'm not impressed with how that turned out."

The win comes after a lopsided 45-5 win last week over the Foothills Composite, a team that normally provides stiffer competitions.

While that game was played in the snow, it's still far better than last season when games were cancelled due to the white stuff. With lack of field time, the team was only beginning to hit its stride when they won bronze in the provincials in a near-perfect game against Sturgeon County.

With a roster of about 30 players, the high school boys rugby team is officially named the Bobcats name but practically has an equal number of players from both Bow Valley and Cochrane High. The team is required to officially carry one of the school names, explains Bauer, but to many of us, they're known as the Bears.

There's also a large crop of new grade 10 players this season, 75 to 80 per cent of which play rugby with the Bow Valley Rugby Club.

The next three games are on the road for the boys team. They play in Canmore on May 1, before heading to Calgary's West Island College on May 8, then to Rundle College on May 13 to finish off their regular season. The girls team also play in Canmore on May 1 and are then at home on May 9 against Holy Trinity before wrapping up their regular season on the road against Oilfields Drillers.  

The girls lost what became their season home opener against Highwood High on Apr. 16. Their first game against W. H. Croxford was cancelled.

Bow Valley High School is hosting a 7s tournament on June 4 for both boys and girls teams. That will be followed by the south-central zone championships, then the ASAA provincial championships on June 7-8 in Lethbridge.

At this point, the boys' team hasn't declared which tier they will be competing at in provincials.