It was a miserable spring for high school rugby but the pieces are starting to fall into place for the Cochrane Bears boys rugby team heading into post-season play.

The Bears, a combination of Bow Valley and Cochrane High players, battled to a 7-7 tie with the Holy Trinity Academy Knights last night, May 16, at the SLS Legacy Sports Field and head coach Karl Bauer says the team looks better heading into zones.

The Bears controlled the play for most of the game and kept the ball in the Knights end. Still, it remained scoreless until midway through the second half when Lucas Snowden broke through the Knights defense to score. The Knights tied it up later in the half.

"It's a big improvement for sure," says Bauer. "We still need to work on a little bit of discipline but it comes with more games."

In the early season Icebreaker Tournament, the Bears lost to the Knights by five points.

"From the start of the season, we've made up with a lot of ground that we lost with the long winter. That was by far the best game they've played all season. Zones are looking a lot more interesting."

Not having the field time to put the full play package into place did hurt and having a lack of larger linemen means a different, more complex playbook is required. It takes longer to implement but can pay off in the end.

"They're starting to find their place. I think part of our problem was that our backs and forwards weren't really joined because we didn't have time to put in some of the plays to link the two groups together. We've been able to do that the last couple of weeks and it has been a big help."

They do have a couple of chances to get more field experience before post-season play starts. There's a 7s tournament being hosted by the West Island College next weekend and they are scheduled to play W. H. Croxford at the Calgary Rugby Union, May 23. During the regular season of the Big Sky League, the Bears finished with a 1-2-1 record.

The Bears have declared tier 2 for provincials. Last season they won silver in a squeaker of a final against Henry Wise Wood Warriors, 10-7, that was decided by a penalty kick late in the game.