When the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy team gets some time off during the tour of British Columbia, the players often go down to the beach next to the University of British Columbia campus; it's fun, but the walk back to the dorms is a several-hundred-step staircase trek back up the cliff.

It's a metaphor. There's fun to be had, but you've got to work for it.

The EIRA U16s found that out. They won over the BC U16s, but 23-19 wasn't easy.

"They gave us trouble when they spread their attack," said team captain Cooper Laczkowski. "We struggled in maintaining our defensive shape. But in the second half we made some improvements, and I think our structure and systems on offense was good."

The EIRA U16s were tough at the breakdown and worked hard to get support and numbers to the tackle. They just needed some time to figure that out.

As for the U17s, they are somewhat old hats at this.

"It's amazing to see the players who are coming back for a second year how they approach it and how they flourish in the system," said Jeff Bonnett, who is the U16 head coach with Jone Naqica and Liam Hartnett assisting. Jason McVeigh heads up the U17s, with Sean Duffy and Tim Kluempers assisting.

"A lot of the guys we here as U16s so we know each other and we know how it all goes," said U17 captain George Henry Miller. "It's not too difficult to come together as a group. The coaches take our phones and as much as we think it’s a pain, it does help with the bonding."

The U17s won comfortably over BC, but Miller said the team has some concentration lapses they'd like to fix.

"That was especially when they had the ball, and they almost scored a couple of times," said Miller. "But when we had the ball, it was cool."