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Monday's Musings
Long time, no post! Our last blog was a bio on Dave Spicer. Today, the Doc features again. This time with tight lines. Past Pres, Chris (‘Oldspice’) Spicer bid on the Kinglsey Grant day fishing trip at the club's most recent fund-raiser. Spice, being no chopped liver, won this bid last year...
SUCCESSFUL OLD BOYS
It being a Saturday, it's time for a rugby story ! SUCCESSFUL OLD BOYS A feature of www.cwrugby.com has been a series of blogs we have run on the club’s Unsung Heroes. We would like to expand this idea by seeking to learn about some of the club’s successful old boys and the relationship...
Monday's Musings
THE NEXT STEP Recently our roving reporter caught up with a number of CW young ladies who have just graduated from High School. The girls were asked a few generic questions as to their rugby involvement and their future. Most of the young ladies have followed the club pathway from U14 to U19...
Golden Oldies
“The roots of the present lie deep in our past.” Keeping with this theme in these Covid times, today we bring you a ‘Golden Oldie’, David Clarke. Clarkie was an original Castaway, having come from the U.K. via Montreal and Cowichan and is one of a handful from his era who can be...
Return to Play Planning Update
We want to let the Castaway Wanderers RFC faithful know that significant work and coordination is taking place to get Rugby moving again in a positive and safe direction. Regular Zoom calls; document reviews; drafting of key information in support of a return to CW Rugby; and much more have...
Monday's Musings
HIGHLANDERS Brains Trust (Credit to All Black Rugby - Getty Images) Those Kiwis! Well, it was with bated breath last week that we awaited outcomes but this week we were left positively gasping – and this all for free! Super shout out to TSN. The CANES/BLUES contest was of an even...
Monday's Musings
Crusader Elation – Photo Credit – Hannah Peters (Getty Images), Rugby Pass News. Well, the big game in NZ was by far the best of the four on display in the Antipodes, this past weekend. The rugby played in the two countries was of a stark comparison – ponderous, poor skills in wet...
Return to Play Planning begins !
CW members, BC Rugby launched its ‘return to play’ plan this week. You can review the plan yourself by clicking this link: http://www.bcrugby.com/returntorugby/ There is a long road ahead to getting back to rugby as we have known it pre-pandemic but this is a huge step forward for rugby and...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
We kick off today with a feature on ‘one of our own’, Chloe Hill-Huse. Chloe has been feted on this site before but today we reproduce a recent cover page article posted by World Rugby – heady stuff. With permission from World Rugby we reprint the story. CHLOE HILL HUSE ON DEVELOPING AS BOTH...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
Photo credit - Extratime Media, N.Z. Aerosol Abounds! Well, we’ve seen two weekends of Aotearoa rugby in NZ and there has certainly plenty of the above, so it’s a good thing that testing seems to be diligently in place and the virus level in the country is virtually nil. In this...
Club President Message on Fighting Racism and Hate
CW Rugby membership requirements: Must be human, that is all. I don’t often post comments on my personal page related to any of my formal roles but those that know me best know how much I love my rugby club: cwrugby.com Given the times, I feel it is important for our club to face...
Monday's Musings
A Quiet Transition In Covid times at CW there has been a major event – apart from no rugby. Three-term President, Matt Gordon has transferred the torch de facto, to nine-year Board member, Dave ‘Bing’ Crossley. Dave will be the second of the past five Presidents who played with the Oak...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
Photo credit: SuperRugby.co and Getty Images - Hurricanes, 2016. NZ Super Rugby Enters Prepare to Play Phase This morning, direct from Wellington, our correspondent pinged us the news that the five NZ Super Rugby teams have now entered the Prepare to Play Phase, with Highlanders hosting...
Saturday, A No Rugby Day!
Next Best - Unsung Hero - On The Field. John Braddock, (2020 Winner – John Morley Award for that player who “plays pain or not; fair or foul; no whining, no excuses”.) CW: John, our Unsung Hero is just that and game in and game out, our club can totally rely on your effort...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
An iconic rugby picture! 1964 Rugby League Final, Sydney. “Stumpy” and “Sticks”. Came across the recent passing of “Stumpy”, Arthur Summons the other day at age 84. The wee man was a fabulous player and developed a lengthy collection of achievements. He started his football...
It's Rugby - Must Be Saturday!
Finnie Soars High To End The Season Name That Team Well, we had very little response to this challenge! So, we’ll leave it at that. A couple of the players on the side responded accurately, which is amazing after that time lapse! Here you go;Back Row, l to r: Dave Bukovic,...
Monday's Musings
And now for the rest of the Winners............ Best “catch” of the Season!! Islanders, Lee Wakely added another side of reality to the action photos on Awards Nite. Lee was awarded the Islanders Player of the Season. WOMEN DIV.1. Most Improved – Cata and Gabby Torres Venegas; Rookie of...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
What did it look like? We include this screen to show evidence of the Zoom Room on Saturday last. Fun to see all those looking in and to try to keep pace with the text Chat to-ing and fro-ing. Today we recognise the rest of the winning crew. PREMIER AWARD WINNERS WOMEN: Forward of the...
Monday's Musings
VIRTUAL AWARDS NIGHT Some 75 players, coaches and club aficionados took part in what is the new reality, last Saturday evening. In current times, Zoom has become a vital component of business survival and so it was with CW Rugby. The Chaplain was able to acquire license for the evening and...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
The roots of the present are deep in the past! Assistant Coach, Captain Ken, 2009. (Yonks ago, at least it seems like it, in times when a decade is as a day or a day, as a decade!) Unfortunately, the wind makes hearing complex in the early stages of the tape, listen closely to...
We Are Warriors
No matter what the outcome of yesterday’s hypothetical semi-final, although I suspect we may have been stiffed once again by a high performance program, our club always seems to realise that it is not the end of the road and life goes on. Not to the extent of; “show me a good loser and I’ll...
Continued Conjecture!
As per the header - pure conjecture!! Tricolor XV Selection Vs UBC BCRU Semi-final, Tomorrow. Thunderbird Stadium. #1 Loose Head Prop: Moderately tall fat lad, often aggressive when something obstructs way to bar, pie shop and occasionally a ruck. Does weights - no one knows why.#2...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
A City of Incredible Generosity When I moved to Victoria in 1971 there were many features of this beautiful place that impressed me. Over time there have been many more and one of those is the outstanding generosity of its people. This occurrence takes place especially for local charities...
Monday's Musings
Rugby Under the Microscope For our musings today, I’d like to share a couple of points of view gleaned from the NZ Herald, saved for me by a Kiwi mate. I think they will certainly provoke thoughts about the game. Firstly, from columnist, Gregor Paul. “Every day, it seems rugby has...
A Matter of Conjecture
Well, had all been according to Hoyle, perhaps today we would be rejoicing in men’s first round playoff victories over Capilanos and Meralomas! Yesterday would have been the first of the playoff matches and admittedly, for that to have occurred in Premier play, end of league victories...