The status of high school rugby in Nova Scotia remains murky, despite a call by the province's education minister to reinstate the sport.

The Nova Scotia Schools Athletic Federation (NSSAF) says it hasn't changed its position on rugby in high schools since it announced its decision to cancel the sport last Thursday.

NSSAF members planned to hold a conference call Monday to discuss the next step while high school players and coaches waited anxiously on the sidelines.

High school rugby player Mara James said she and her teammates were ready to play.

“We have our cleats at school, we're ready to go, and then we find out, oh, by the way, the NSSAF says we can't play, and we're like, ‘haven't we already resolved this?’” James said.

Matt Melanson, the head coach of the Sir John A. Macdonald High School boys' rugby team said that as of 1 p.m. Monday, the fate of their afternoon game was still undecided.

“We were still being told whether we were gonna play or not, we got the word no, but we're keeping the field time cause we never get it,” Melanson said.

Later Monday, some students and school officials said they are hearing the games on Tuesday will go ahead, but there was no confirmation.

Friday, Nova Scotia's education minister asked the board to reinstate the sport, but an education department spokesperson said he was unavailable for an interview while he was in Yarmouth.

Meanwhile, Tim Houston, the leader Progressive Conservative Party, called on Churchill to clear things up.

“The Minister must set the record straight on his role in the initial decision to cancel rugby,” Houston said in a news release. “The students deserve straightforward answers.”

In his statement on Friday, Churchill said that the NSSAF had contravened a governing funding agreement with the province and its decision to ban the sport came without appropriate consultation.

Since it was required to do so, and didn’t, Churchill asked them to reinstate it immediately.

A memo issued Sunday by Stephen MacNeil, chair of the board of governors for the NSSAF, said that his organization met with deputy minister Cathy Montreuil on March 29 to discuss any issues that could potentially come from the decision and "she offered no objections."

"The justification for the (government) decision was that the NSSAF breached the funding agreement with the department because the department was not informed of the proposed changes," MacNeil wrote.

"The NSSAF Board of Governors disagrees that the funding agreement was breached."

MacNeil was not available for further comment.

The Education Department said later Monday that one staff person attended the board's meeting last week, but in a non-voting capacity.

It said the federation issued its directive to schools on the same day with "no heads up to the department, no consultation with school communities."

"The NSSAF raised the stats around rugby with the deputy in March with no indication that rugby would be cancelled in the middle of the season, and certainly, not cancelled on May 2 at noon," the department said.

Houston says this raises a lot of questions that require answers.

“The Minister told Nova Scotians that his department didn’t know about the decision to cancel rugby but the memo says otherwise,” says Houston. “It begs the question, did the Minister knowingly withhold information from the public?”

Houston says Churchill knew more than he was letting on when he issued his statement on Friday.

“This is just another example of why it is hard to take anything this Minister says at face value,” says Houston.

In an e-mailed statement sent Monday, Churchill repeated his stance taken Friday.

“The department was not aware of NSSAF’s plan to announce the cancellation of the rugby season,” Churchill said. “The Regional Education Directors and the CSAP Superintendent are today informing their principals that high school rugby will continue.”  

Churchill said education department officials plan to meet Tuesday with the NSSAF Board of Directors “to discuss a path forward in the best interest of our students.”

In a memo sent to principals on Sunday, the NSSAF acknowledged that the “Minister of Education has directed the Board to reinstate rugby, but as of (Sunday), the board of governors have not resolved the issue.”

The NSSAF continued: “Any school playing rugby, like any other non-NSSAF sport, is at the discretion of the principal.”

Houston says this is passing the buck.

“It feels like this issue has been offloaded to the principals to deal with because neither the federation nor the department can make a decision,” says Houston. “Rugby players in high schools have been sitting in limbo for days wondering whether they will get to play the game. I urge the minister to clear the air and get our players back on the field.”

Meanwhile, Rugby Nova Scotia said it is aware of the federation's memos.

"At this time we are working with the government of Nova Scotia on next steps toward expedient reinstatement," the organization said in a statement on Twitter.

"Rugby Nova Scotia, Rugby Canada, and World Rugby are committed to working with all parties to further review the data and discuss how rugby can continue to be safely played in Nova Scotia high schools."

With files from The Canadian Press.