Team Sask. sports silver after rugby final at World Police & Fire Games

After a “big day of rugby,” Team Saskatchewan’s players were happy to walk off the pitch with silver medals draped around their necks.

“Wish it was gold,” joked 26-year-old Bradyn Dyck, one of several Saskatoon firefighter paramedics who made up Team Saskatchewan’s rugby roster for the 2023 World Police & Fire Games.

“But it’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing rugby these past couple days,” Dyck said sincerely.

Team Saskatchewan’s loss to Team Australia in the gold-medal game Tuesday afternoon in Winnipeg came after a win earlier on Tuesday against Hong Kong.

That game was delayed after a major thunderstorm and downpour earlier in the morning.

“We got into it in the wet grass and mud,” Dyck said. “We battled hard, made some mistakes and learned from them.”

According to Dyck, the Saskatchewan team knew the gold-medal game would be hard-fought after losing to Australia earlier in the tournament.

“We knew we had our work cut out for us,” he said.

After the loss, however, the two teams jokingly jostled together for a team photo – even welcoming in the bronze-medal winners – before players traded shorts and chatted together lightheartedly.

Dyck said both teams put in “100 per cent effort” and gave Team Australia credit for the win.

About half of Team Saskatchewan’s rugby competitors play the sport in their home province, though they participate in 15s rugby rather than sevens.

This competition was the first time playing sevens rugby for every single member of Team Saskatchewan.

Dyck explained the differences in the number of players on the field and what positions are played, with 15s naturally having 15 players on the pitch, with players in both forward and back positions.

The sevens format, on the other hand, has only seven players on the pitch and “just backs,” according to Dyck.

Dyck said sevens is a faster-paced game, with “less ground and pound, more get the ball out and run it around.”

Two players on Team Saskatchewan’s rugby roster had never played any form of the sport before, while one was a Winnipeg paramedic the team recruited after competing together in an earlier event.

When asked about their time in Winnipeg, members of Team Saskatchewan grinned and called the prairie city “prettier than expected.”

Dyck praised Winnipeg as a great host city.

“I’m so happy all of these countries travelled as far as they did to come to Winnipeg,” he said.

Team Saskatchewan has also picked up medals in two dragon boat events, receiving gold and bronze. Saskatchewan will compete in the arm wrestling and cornhole events later this week.