The Latest
Wednesday's Ruck and Maul on Thursday!
CW SEARCHES FOR NEW PREMIERSHIP HEAD COACH & TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Today’s news brings a huge note of thanks to Lee Lindwall and Ian Hyde-Lay, senior men’s premiership head coaches of the 2015-16 season. Neither is available at this stage to continue the task of coaching the club’s senior...
Monday's Musings
CW joins Newport in Saluting Rod “The Cod” Snow Rod Snow was honoured by Newport on the weekend, being placed in the Newport RFC Hall of Fame. “Codfish” Snow made 190 appearances for Newport over a decade long span. He’d go on to make forty appearances for the Newport Gwent Dragons after...
School Rugby Takes Over
It is the time of season when the rugby focus reverts to our youth. Friday 13th will see the 44TH Annual GVSD Mini Rugby Jamboree. Over the years, this tournament has produced players who have continued to the highest echelons, most notable being Gareth Rees and more recently, Caroline...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
Unsung Hero – Off the Field Today’s Hero, Andreissa Lee (with another Hero, John Morley) Fondly known as “Dray”, Andreissa was recently honored by the club with the Jimmy Aitken, Most Outstanding Supporter Award and the time is right for us honour her with the above title as well! CW: Dray,...
Cinderella Saga
The table was set at The Mac when the ghosts of Bateau, Mole, GG, Swinson, E-balls, Duke, Al Cave and Bubba carried The Crows to an upset victory over the favoured Westshore Velox, in the Men’s 3rd Div. B.C. Final. A toast to many a fine, Liftspan’s past! Well done, Kelowna. The women got...
BIG GAME Preview
Tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. @ Mac Donald Park the B.C. Women’s Premier Final takes place between Velox Westshore and CW. This will be the fourth encounter this season between the two top women’s teams. The results have all gone Velox-way. Betting with one’s head would see one wager this way...
The Story So Far.....
Competing in the BC Premiership finals for women’s rugby is new to Castaway Wanderers, but the tradition of quality rugby on Vancouver Island is not. “When we (re)started the senior women’s rugby program in 2015, we had to draw on all our strengths. We knew we had to have a feeder program,...
Monday's Musings
Rugby Canada Recognition Female Coach of the Year Award: Anna Wray Anna is a Rugby Canada Women’s 15's team alumni who has remained involved in rugby and gives back to the sport she loves by coaching the CW girls' teams. She was instrumental in the program startup some five years ago....
..........And then there were Two
Britt's Boot Does Damage! With 22 points, the day might have been expected to be called The Jess Neilson Show however, as with all CW women’s games witnessed by this critic, win or lose, it was all about TEAM. The game was only two minutes old when CW won a scrum, Waters observantly saw...
A Meteoric Rise
It has been a season far beyond the wildest imagination for the CW Women’s Premier team. In their inaugural season they have finished in second place on the ladder, behind B.C. Champs, Westshore and have thus earned home field advantage for their semi-final match against Seattle Saracens....
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
In response to a reader’s question. Here it is – all of the OBHS squad - B.C. Champs. CW Age grade players – Amelia Gordon, Immy White, Kelsey White, Aya Timmer, Adrienne Graham, Rae-Lyn Parkins, Sophie De Goede, Rachel Kinahan, Caroline Crossley. Other team members – Lindsay Simpson,...
Monday's Musings
Everything’s coming up Sevens! It has been seven days since the keyboard has been tapped and what a week it has been! Must start with Langford. Did the English women ever look the goods in that Final? England’s full-on professional approach is starting to pay dividends. Canada’s performance...
Monday's Musings
SEVENS TEAMS SPUTTER Canada Men’s and Women’s Sevens programs received a definite come-uppance over the weekend. The Women who started with great élan winning four in a row, all of a sudden came up against eventual winners, Australia. At the moment, the Aussies are a cut above the rest. The...
Boot Goes to Barbs
It was a veritable Who’s Who of CW mini and age grade “grads” on show at U.Vic’s Centennial Stadium last night. A tip of The Ruggernut’s cap to the winners, Oak Bay Barbs for their solid victory and overall lead in the series, over SMUS, 31 – 10. A very good partisan crowd was assembled to...
Thursday Rugby
6:30 tonight at UVic's Centennial Stadium Action tonight is for the 22nd time between the storied rugby programs of SMUS and Oak Bay HS. Both of these teams contain the majority of CW U18 lads who won the B.C. Championship in the Fall. The overall results between the two schools are; 10 - 10 -...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
A Plethora of Weekend Action This weekend offers a real smorgasbord of rugby, both locally and internationally. The local action starts at Windsor on Saturday, 11:30 a.m. when the Tricolours take on Westshore in a vitally important game. CW has not beaten Westshore this year, yet stands atop...
Monday's Musings
Sarries Douse Playoff Hopes It was never going to be easy however, when the dust had settled, the one difference had gone Seattle’s way in an entertaining, 40 – 31 match. Embedded in this blog is the game video (compliments of Seattle R.F.C. videographer). Sunny skies and shirtless fans...
All the Latest
Professional team mates. Ilnicki Inks Contract. CW’s Jake Ilnicki has become the third CW player to sign a contract with the fledgling, PRO Rugby League. Jake joins Hubert ‘The Moose’ Buydens and Phil MacKenzie with San Diego. Ray Barkwill has inked with Sacramento and will play in the...
Monday's Musings
CW adds our condolences to the Hadley family following the death of their son, Norm in Japan over the weekend. "Stormin Norman" will be fondly remembered by many players at CW as they played with him at OBHS. Norm was introduced to the game by Gary Johnston and he played for James Bay and...
Goliath Schools David
The above analogy is somewhat emblematic of Thursday night’s contest between Westshore and CW however, on this occasion, David did not have enough ammo! It was a case of the good big player getting the upper hand over the good little player, under the lights and in the showers on a chilly...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
March Madness - Rugby Style. Tomorrow night, kicking off at 6:30 at Velox's Westshore Velodrome, CW Women will pit current form against local, arch rivals, Westshore Valhallians. This will be CW women's first game vs their cross-town rivals, Westshore, since the Island final this past fall...
Volunteers Needed
Every summer a large number of CW players are selected for representative youth rugby. The very successful, Crimson Tide Organisation is seeking volunteers for the following posiitons. Not all positions require tecnical rugby skill sets and it isd a great opportunity for parents to be...
R.I.P. John Cannon
It is with sadness today that we offer condolences to the family of John Cannon. John passed away over the weekend after suffering a heart attack. A powerful inside centre, Cannon played for Canada at junior level (U17, U19 and U23), before making his senior debut aged 20, in 2001 vs. the USA...
Nine Try Extravaganza
S.B. Morris at his very best! It was a strange day at Windsor on Saturday. It started with some disconcerting news from Schwartz Bay, where one of a number of vehicles transporting SFU Women was rear-ended, resulting in a visit to the E.R. SFU had a “bare XV” and the other ladies were...
Triple Header @ Windsor
CW Women open the day @ 11:30 a.m. against visiting SFU. The Visitors do not have a stellar record however, the Hosts will be missing six women at the NSWT’s XV’s Camp and nothing is a “given” in our game. CW will be deservedly led by youngster, Laura Crow-Hutchon and Kara Galbraith, Stef...