Women's Rugby | 8/29/2025 4:38:00 PM

The 2024 season was one of change for the York University Lions women's rugby team. New head coach Spencer Robinson came into the fold looking to revitalize a program coming off two winless seasons in three years, a period in which they went 1-15.

Revitalize it, Robinson did.

He took his Lions to within a game of making the postseason, earning the program's first two victories since 2022, wins over Trent and Laurier – the Lions first opponent of 2025.

Robinson was rewarded for his efforts with the OUA women's rugby coach of the year award. In winning the award, Robinson becomes just the second coach in program history to win the award, joining Joe Costello, who won it three times over his six-year tenure as head coach from 2009-15.

"It was a very rewarding year," Robinson said of the 2024 season. "We didn't have any stated goals, but we did have the intention of trying to establish a process that would lead us to future success."

Robinson said there was immediate buy-in from the student athletes to the message he was preaching, and they were able to reap the benefits.

"The athletes adopted, quickly, a lot of the things we wanted implemented," he said. "We able to get rewarded in terms of wins, but also see growth in the team and the culture of women's rugby at York."

Looking forward to 2025, the Lions have a strong nucleus of returning veterans to help guide the program toward that next step, with an eye on the postseason. Calling rugby, "the ultimate team game," Robinson was hesitant to name many players by name, but did offer a glimpse at some people to keep an eye on this season.

"If I had to pick players to take us forward this year, Mistura Are,  Sammi Kenny, Dani Pahl, Ronnie Umbres, and Caitlin Watson would be some," Robinson said. "They exhibited great leadership qualities, and we're (also) really excited to see the return to full fitness of Harshini Chinnian."

Women's rugby at York takes on a slightly different recruitment model than many other sports, in that rugby is not necessarily the primary reason the athlete is attending the school. While most other sports recruit athletes specifically to play for their program, much of Robinson's team is here due to their interest in an academic program, while choosing to play rugby as an aspect of their university experience.

"We hosted some high school athletes last winter, and many of them have gone onto play and study at other schools," Robinson said. "The Toronto (high) schools have been great to us in showing interest in our program, and we've welcomed them in with open arms."

The Lions have six rookies on their 2025 roster, all but one of whom hail from Toronto or Peel and York Regions. Three of the six are in their first or second years of study, while three others are in their third, showcasing the wide variety of student-athletes choosing to join an up-and-coming program.

"We want athletes to choose York as a destination based on their rugby ability, but right now, those athletes are choosing more established programs," Robinson said. "We do have the opportunity for athletes who want to stay home, but also want to continue playing rugby and realizing they can continue in the game while attending York."

While taking that next step and becoming a playoff team is certainly something the Lions would love to achieve, they are prioritizing process over results.

"That would be a great result for us," Robinson said of qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2019. "But we are just focused on process, so we want to do what we did last year but do it a little bit better, we want to broaden the scope of the athletes' knowledge and incorporate some more depth to our game.

"Of course we're trying to win as many games as we can, but we're really trying to stay process focused and be really good in our process." 

Robinson says part of the culture shift for Robinson and his staff is trying to keep his athletes invested and involved in the game year round.

"We're trying to get our athletes to take themselves more seriously in terms of the time the dedicate to the game in off-field preparation, whether it's physical, in the gym, mental, or intellectual in terms of studying and knowing the game," he said.

"We're delighted a number of players decided to play club rugby in the offseason, so coming into camp, our skillset is more refined," Robinson continued. "We're trying to empower athletes to see themselves as leaders, so now we have more people on the team who feel more connected and driving the bus as opposed to being passengers on the bus."

The Lions kick off the season Saturday at Alumni Field hosting the Laurier Golden Hawks at 4:00 pm. Admission is free.