Monday's Musings

CURTAIN CLOSES AT HOME

The curtain-raiser was between Ceedub and old foes and good friends, Port Alberni.  The Black Sheep had a league lead over the hosts, but it turned out to be a good battle and an enjoyable game. Port opened the account, but CW responded, and the line read 7 – 5 to Port. CW went ahead when Marshall Stove transferred quick ball to Graham to finish, CW 12 – 7. Port responded after some good work from Parkar and Shannon to go ahead, 14 – 12. A poorly judged clearing kick by the Tricolors saw Swain-Pelletier punch over for the 19 – 12 lead.  The hosts finished the first stanza with a second try to Ronan Graham to bring the line to 19 – 17.  It had been entertaining and well-officiated forty minutes.


Unfortunately, it only took ten minutes for Port to score and lead 24 – 17 in the second stanza.  Although the match seemed more even, the scoreline was to favor the Black Sheep handsomely in the second half, 24 – 5. When the Port went ahead 31 – 17, again on the efforts of Shannon and Parkar, supported by strong runs from Raiwako, it appeared as it was “shut the gate”.  CW’s #9, Keegan Hall made a valiant effort, and it shortened to 31 – 17, with some hope for the partisan supporters.  Despite some scrummaging superiority by the CW Colts, it was Port who crossed for two more, with #13, Tourangeau notching his hat trick, 43 – 24, final score.

This seemed one-sided, in fact, was far from it. Let me start with Port.  It is always good to see long-time colleague, Jas Purewal. Jas has been the representative of the Black Sheep and all that they have achieved for many years. His son, Gavin, was the #9 on the day and served a swift ball to his eager backline. Port had some size and plenty of experience advantage. I gave my M-o-M to #7 Parkar who was all over the field and instrumental in many tallies.  Raiwako also served well in the pack.  Ty Shannon, an old hand, (did he play with CW at some stage?), guided his boys with some good, hoisted punts and fed astutely and took the gap at the right time to always be a threat.  Finally, a very predictable, but effective #12, center, Josh Swain-Pelletier proved to be a hard man to stop. I must also include #21, fullback, Atleo who made some effective incursions.

Plenty of positives for the Divvies.  In fact, by far, one of their better performances.  Well led by McKenzie, the FRF had the better of their opposition, led by youngster Hahn. Declan Stove did damage and McCallum is a joy to have back from UVic. Roethel and Johnston also showed well. In the backs, winger Ronan Graham scored a brace and then played some 60 minutes for the Prems!  Quite the day, young man! Hugh Mager tried to make things happen, Marshall Stove at #15, with a try, was always a danger, and Keegan Hall had a very strong game.  Should this group be able to basically stay the same, next season looks very promising.

Finally, a thanks to referee, Owen, with a point to ponder….it was disappointing to see a young, inexperienced AR ignored on a correct call to assist.  Admittedly, he did not look the part of an official (in civvies), having reluctantly, yet enthusiastically accepted the flag at the last minute at the behest of his coach. CW wishes Port well in their playoff campaign.

To the main game. Sadly, it was a sparse crowd on hand to witness the Men’s Prems arguably, the best effort of the season. It was only ten minutes old when Bowd sliced a clever kick to touch.  It was a power drive from the lineout and a couple of recycles and Jack Wallace drew first blood. The Birds responded immediately. It was a 50m build up, Talon McMullin being the instigator, on to Webb in support and Biss closed it out at 11 minutes, 7 – 7. CW showed some creativity after UBC had knocked on at the restart, with Wallace and Fatt on the move only to have a reciprocal k.o.  From the ensuing scrum the ball came wide to Massyn who was tackled at the one-meter mark. CW kept the pressure on, and a close chance never came to fruition as the defense held up the player to prevent the touchdown.  Play see-sawed and yet another CW chance went awry with a k.o. In fairness, the handling was as much a factor of pressure defense as it was any skill deficit. CW ran tight lines at pace in hopes of breaking through. This created challenges with ball handling. Although the territorial advantage went to the home team, any UBC possession was explosive. CW worked inside the red zone again and was held up for a second time. From this pressure a penalty was awarded to the Tricolors and Bowd made no mistake, 10 – 7.

Bowd then banged a long ball which was ruled to have gone beyond the dead ball line, with play returning to the spot for a scrum.  With the advantage of “altitude”, for this writer, it was rather clear that the ball had been touched down by the defender in goal, perhaps difficult to see from ground level. After an AR and player consult the ruling stood. This somewhat eased some pressure for UBC. To boot, CW shunted a scrum, but no advantage was gained. As matters often go in rugby, it was against the run of play with five minutes remaining that UBC had territory and earned a penalty and an alert tap ball was carried strongly and the ball carrier scrambled in the tackle, regained his feet and fed wide through Biss and McMullen to Andrianos to scoot over for the 12 – 10 lead. It looked that the player had been held and not released the ball, as he scrambled to his feet. IMO a penalty was missed.  Credit to the ball carrier. It had been an electrifying half.

UBC opened the scoring alertly and early in the second stanza. A tap penalty saw #9, Stephen Webb cross against little resistance.  This was soon followed by arguably the TSN Turning Point when CW was red carded for a late tackle.  UBC certainly smelled blood, and it was only superhuman efforts that repelled the attack.  The half was still early, when against the odds, Bowd pinched the ball in a tackle and moved it wide to Easson who fed Tait on the burst on the delay.  Gammage was ready to take the pass and finish for an almost unbelievable tally and 19 – 17 scoreline. Could the impossible happen? Bowd on defense created another penalty at the breakdown and capitalized with his boot and the CW lead 20 – 19 and still a good ten minutes remaining.  CW maintained the pressure.  However, UBC spotted their advantage when a critical lineout was won and McMullin dummied and fed McGovern on the overlap.  This man showed clean heels for 30m and the final score, UBC 24 – CW 20. What a contest it had been. Congratulations and thanks to the combatants and the officiating crew.

Referee Horton saw some incidents for both teams from a different perspective than this partisan’s point of view. Some, as expressed, arguably detrimental to the CW cause. It was a challenging match to officiate as the pace and contest level were “full on”. Four tries to three for the Birds and CW leaving three on the pitch, harming their own cause, confirmed an accurate result.  I thought for UBC, Joe McNulty was a mountain-man on this day and gets my M-o-M. Caden Wilson and Relmu Wilson-Valdes also got through a ton of work in the pack.  Webb served his backs well and although there were some handling errors, the backs showed their pace and had an older CW line on the hop on several occasions, led by Talon McMullin. It is hard to predict what might happen in the playoffs but looking at second half scorelines, with the exception of their tie with UBCOB Ravens, this match may well have been the toughest the Birds have faced in the second half.

For CW, there was heaps to like, not the least being that with this squad, of course there is a red card to face, but they should not be counted out on the road vs Lomas next week. Bowd was clearly the CW M-o-M and still should be considered for NSMT selection, even if Premier League is far from the pace of international rugby.  He just does so much well, and his defense is obviously something he prides himself on. Tait also had a good match marred by some errors in handling.  Pilgrim at #15 has adapted to this spot like an old hand and he is both brave and skilled, exhibiting both attributes in this match.  Let me not forget #9, Gammage who provides Bowd with time to decide. Super trooper on this day Ronan Graham with two tries and 80 minutes for Divvies, and another 60 for the Prems with hardly any errors. ‘onya, Ronan. The forwards to a man, did not shirk from anything, in fact going over and beyond, particularly facing a man down. I thought Pyke played a blinder and his loosie partners were not far behind.  In all, it was a great way to end the season at home.  Thanks for this memory.

The women’s teams were involved in Div 2 and Div I matches.  Div 2 was on the road against Kamloops with the home team winning comfortably and Div 1 defaulted but played the game against Comox, losing 15 – 45.  Next week will see the Premiers against Westshore which miraculously found a team to go to Burnaby this week and handle the Lakers 46 – 26.  Amazing how my crystal ball prediction from last week came to pass!  FYI, it was not rocket science or any magic, but I do question how could this be?