Half Centuries the Order of the Day!

Action at the main game at Windsor opened in spades for the Visitors.  Three hit ups and a blind side thrust from McKnight for the opening score after a mere three minutes shocked CW!  Good for Velox as they had backed themselves on a penalty and won the subsequent lineout.  About ten minutes in with first useful CW position and possession, Crossland opened a gap with a nice shimmy and fed Hickman who alertly “filled” for CW to go ahead, 7 – 5, not to be bested again.  20min. – Thornber pushed off some ‘wannabees’ to end a 25m. ramble, 14 – 5. 40 min. – Kelliher found himself on the end of a good team try to end the half at 24 – 5.

Scoring commenced early and often after the interval.  Three minutes in Morgan showed deft footwork, 31 – 5.  Within two minutes, Evans was next, after the ball moved through copious hands, 38 – 5.  CW then looked rather inept when a series of unnecessary penalties resulted in a yellow after some handbags and despite winning against the grain ball, the hosts failed to get out of trouble and found themselves two down after further infractions, a scene that had coaches going for the Zantacs.  20min. – Westshore scored a well-earned tally, 38 – 10.

Despite this, CW manifested better skills, fitness and pressure with subs such as Thomas making a difference.  25 min. – ‘Burger’ Thornber made another 25m run for his brace, 45 – 10.  35min – Ngongo was sprung by Crossland, 50 – 10.  It looked like Evans put the exclamation mark on it when he crossed after eight passes, 55 – 10 but it was Kelliher who deservedly had the last say, after he ripped the defence, fed Albornoz and backed up for the ninth tally, 62 – 10 and six of them by the tight five.  The big man concluded a good day’s work.

CW had some moments of quality but focus and fitness need more effort.  This fan liked efforts from Thornber, Kelliher, Evans and Albornoz in the pack and MoM (from the balcony), Crossland, Morris moments and Hickman in the backs.  For VV, UVic grad, Llewelyn tried hard but was bested by Crossman, they had speed on the wings but were cursed with handling errors throughout but particularly when tiredness set in, credit to Ceedub with some enthusiastic defence.  In summary, there was more there for the taking but The Tricolour only seemed to do what they needed to do ….. okay today but will need to be better going forward.

The curtain-raiser saw Port Alberni put on a mesmeric display, pasting CW, 56 – 21.  The Black Sheep had it won at the half, 27 – 7 and the 43 points scored by the teams in the second half at least provided some fun for the players and interest for the spectators.  It was this pundit’s first look at The Ones and it appeared that much needs to be done should they aspire to be middle of the pack or playoff hopefuls.  I like Henderson who scored a brace of “good captain’s tries” but couldn’t i.d. much else.

At time of posting we have a Tweet of CW Women drubbing Comox, 72 – 5.  Well done, ladies.  It is looking more and more like a two horse race on the Island for the VIRU title.  (Full report pending.)