UPDATED: Nelson Grizzlies defeat Cranbrook

The Nelson Grizzlies played their second game of the season at home on Saturday afternoon at Lakeside park defeating Cranbrook 44-14.

"It's nice to beat Cranbrook because they were the league champions last year," said Michael Joyce with the Grizzlies. "It's great that we can come out and do that."

Joyce said that the Grizzlies have a lot of energy this season seeing a full roster including several players from the L.V. Rogers senior boys rugby program.

"The newer guys that we have like Connor Butler, Jesse Yanke, Nick Wood are high school kids that have come out and this is their first season," he said. "It's great to see players from the high school program is coming up."

Butler and Yanke both scored tries in Saturday's game.

"They weren't just give-mes, they were well earned," said Joyce. "[Butler] ran half the field to score his try. [Yanke] picked a blind side. He had an opportunity and he cut the hole and he scored. Both the high school kids got on the board."

In addition to Butler and Yanke, Joyce said that Jimmy Ellis was strong in the weekend game.

The Grizzlies implemented a new offensive system during the game that they had been trying during the week.

"In offense I think we ran it well for 10 minutes in the first half, and obviously we ran it OK the whole day because we won," he said. "I think that's something we have to be consistent with."

Leading up to their next game in Cranbrook on May 26, Joyce said they will continue to work on offense in addition to defense and coming together as a team.

"Our defense was OK we had some lapses in the back for defense and as we got tired there were some tackling lapses," he said. "Our body positions were getting higher and some things around that were an issue. It's just important now for the guys getting some time together because this is only our second game."

The Grizzlies lost the first game of the season on May 1 against Trail.