Monday's Musings

There was the first half…CW Vs CAPILANO

The match started with some real promise for CW, despite Caps opening the scoring about eight minutes in.  CW responded after an alert tap penalty and Gavin Kratz bulled his way over, roughly midway through the half.  Caps notched a penalty in the late going for a 10 – 7 lead.

Caps peeled off an early lineout in the second half, – 17 – 7. Easson added a trey, 17 – 10.  Despite early hopes. matters started to go awry.  Post game, coach Ken was disappointed but certainly far from dejected.  The final scoreline was to be very similar to that of one month back, however, Ken believed there had been growth and the lads far from folded the tent.  Caps were to score again from a lineout, 22 – 10.  Capilano backs then showed some flair when wide ball earned the points, 29 - 10.  Gamage then showed his enterprise when he niftily snipped blindside, 29 – 17. Again, it was his enterprise with a clever chip, chase and re-gather, 29 -22.  This young player reads the game well and has good field vision.  ‘onya, Chris!  Caps went wide again and were rewarded which Ken mentioned that this may have been prevented.  As the clock ticked down an exclamation mark was added, 43 – 22.  CW evidently knocked on near the line in the dying stages, preventing a bonus point.  Next week it is crosstown to UVic.

Women’s Div 1 put up a good fight against James Bay, sitting in third place, eventually going down 29 – 10.

Whilst with Premier rugby, I quote today from a rugby scribe and his observations from the Burnaby vs Westshore match yesterday. “#4 hosting #2. Both teams coming off wins, both teams stacked with talent. Twelve of the players have represented Canada in XVs or 7s two have represented Fiji at the national level, three have represented Kenya at the national level, plus there are club players from NZ, Australia, South Africa.”

I draw reader’s attention to the reference to import players; a topic I have been on the band waggon about recently.  I come back to my position that there should be no more than three import players, and they should be declared with proof.  This sounds heavy-handed, just maybe because I am somewhat disillusioned today after watching the VIRU U18 Final. The concept of growing the game seems to be mere lip service from many rugby people.

VIRU U18 BOYS FINAL – CW Vs SALISH WARRIORS

These teams had met back in October, with CW posting a lopsided victory.  From early in the game, it appeared that matters would be very different on this day.  I will only outline the scoreline as I am not familiar with the players.  CW opened the scoring and Salish responded with a penalty.  Then an unstoppable visitor’s #7 broke 4/5 tackles from 35m out for the 8 – 5 lead at the half.

CW then pipped ahead, 10 – 8, only to incur yet another penalty, 11 – 10, for the visitors.  They added to this, 14 – 10.  The affair looked as though there was hope, despite a decided advantage in field position by Salish.  When the #8 rampaged from a sixty-meter scamper, fending off tacklers, the scoreline went to 10 – 19, advantage visitors, and it looked final.  To CW’s credit, they did not fold and earned a good team try to close to 15 – 19.  This was the final score.  Salish were the better side in a match which featured far too much kicking of a less than stellar nature!  CW found themselves defending too often, prohibiting their talented running ability from having any major effect.

Two very talented teams and officiating decisions that were often questionable, which made it all somewhat of a tragedy rather than anything bordering on potentially epic.  Point of note, there were far too many sideline referees.

There was plenty going on off the field at this one. Looking at the BCRU website, one notes that CW was awarded a 20 – 0 victory, yet the win went the Warrior's way.  The lads will be in the BC final again this season.  It will be a rematch of last year, as Ravens defeated Bayside 26 – 25 in the Mainland Final yesterday.

In conclusion, it will be most interesting to see the postmortem on this one, if indeed, it takes place.  This pundit can only assume that despite the loss, CW will represent the VIRU in the BC Championship

Other VIRU Junior Boy’s action saw CW U14 playing Salish at Shawnigan Lake.  Early in the season the Salish team had won the encounter 50 – 5.  The Salish team won yesterday’s game as well, although reports gave the score as being a one score game until the final ten minutes, when the home team added a brace to win, 45 – 12.  Hats off to the winners and a good challenge from CW.

Boy’s U16 VIRU Final took place at Cowichan’s Herd Rd field.  This is always a tough venue for visiting teams and it proved to be once again in this match. Cowichan had a 19 – 5 lead at one point in the encounter.  No details available, however, CW did manage to fight back and win this one at the post, 20 – 19. The U16’s will also be in the BC Final with the opposition being Capilano who defeated Abbotsford in the Mainland Final yesterday.