Taking advantage of Mother Nature's good mood the Prince George Gnats hosted a pair of exhibition rugby games Saturday at the Kelly Road secondary fields.
Teams from Terrace and Prince Rupert both made the trip east on Highway 16 to take on a Gnats team that had a few more players than usual out for the fun. The Gnats swept both games beating Terrace 33-12 before slipping past Prince Rupert 28-17.
Derrick Przysieny, second-row forward for the Gnats, said in the first game against Terrace the teams were tied at the half.
"We probably just had a little more experience then them," said Przysieny. "We played well this weekend. We had some guys out who hadn't been out in a while."
Troy McKenzie and Thomas Saar had two tries each for the Gnats over the course of the two games, while Justin Girard had a try of his own. Evan Tingle and Brendon Wolf earned man of the game honours for the Gnats against Terrace and Prince Rupert, respectively.
Przysieny said it was a fun day of rugby, hot dogs and hamburgers and good friends despite having only three teams. A couple of teams, including the Williams Lake Rustlers, had to cancel their trips when they couldn't round up enough players.
It also was a warmup for Przysieny and a couple of other Gnats before they head to Burnaby this weekend to take part in the Simon Fraser sevens tournament. Six members of the women's Gnats team will also travel to the tournament.
After the Simon Fraser event, the next action for the men's Gnats is August long weekend when they head west to Terrace for the annual sevens tournament during Riverboat Days.
The rugby teams practice Tuesday and Thursday on the fields at Edgewood Elementary school at 6 p.m.
