April 7, 2009
This past weekend was a success for the club with 3 of 4 club sides coming away with victories. (U-16's actually played twice)
• U-16 Boys: Cowichan 40 vs Nanaimo 0 (played friday evening)
• Premier Men: Bayside 39 vs Cowichan 19
• 1st Div. Men: Cowichan 18 vs Bayside 17
• 1st Div. Women: Cowichan 47 vs Kamloops 0 (In Kamloops)
• U-16 Boys: Cowichan 62 vs Velox 22 (VIRU Semi Final Game)
• NVIRU 3rd Div: Cowichan bye.
OTHER PREMS. SCORES
Castaway Wanderers 48 Burnaby Lake 3
JBAA 39 Meralomas 13
Velox 51 UBC Old Boys 5
UBC 50 Vancouver Rowing Club 18
U-Vic 44 Capilanos 3
Other weekend highlights
-Brett Beukeboom, former Cowichan Junior, wins prestigious University of Victoria Robert T. Wallace Shield Rookie of the Year award for Athletics.
-Lucien Nel, Cowichan U-16 boys, named to start at Scrum Half for Canada U-17's in Millfield.
GAMING GRANT AND PROPERTY REDEVELOPMENT
The Club secured an $80,000.00 Gaming Grant from the BC Government last week which is a pleasant surprise. We now can put the wheels in motions to the property redevelopment and securing matching funds.
For those that don't recall the plan is to improve the rugby facility so that the operation can run more efficiently, provide a sturdy economic platform, improve player and spectator infrastructure and increase the overall look of the grounds. Initially we will be doing the following.
*Clean up the east property line.
*Move stands to 100' behind existing north end goal posts.
*Fencing to protect the fields.
*Create two side by side fields.
At the executive meeting Thursday we will be striking a committee to oversee this project. Volunteers who want to become involved please come forward. A special general meeting will be called for themembership to vote on the planned expenditure of funds.
GAME REPORT & OTHER MUSINGS
It is unfortunate that league play for the club has ended so early in the Spring. Last Saturday was a beautiful, hot sunny Spring day to play rugby. This should be the middle of league play not the end. With this in mind, the lower mainland clubs that play Premier Rugby have come to consensus that next year they will be pushing for this league to play from Feb. 15 to June 15 inclusive. We are excited about this and the feeling is we would like to be included.
As far as the standings go in the Premiership, Cowichan RFC ended up in 9th place out of 12 teams and won 2 of 11 games. The teams behind Cowichan were Burnaby, UBC Old Boys and the Rowers. The Old Boys failed to secure a win and the Rowers and Burnaby each won two games but failed to secure the bonus points that Cowichan did.
To reflect on the season for the Prems I think we did okay for our first year back. We accomplished a major goal of being competitive and placing above 10th. We were very close to victory in a couple of other games (CW beat us by 1 point and the Capilanos beat us by 9 points) Our second team was a pleasant surprise though and came away with a 5th place finish in the 12 team league with a record of 6 wins and 5 losses. They have secured a playoff spot. The 1st Div. side looks to be taking on the U-Vic Norsemen in a semi final match in a couple of weeks.
Another bright spot is that when our club travelled we were able to take two strong teams to other venues and come away with several away game victories for our second team. A difficult task in this league.
This past weekend saw the Prems get off to a good start and built up a 14-8 lead over Bayside which took them into the half. The wheels came off the rails a bit for the first 20 minutes of the second half and saw a very good Bayside team, desperate for a win, take control to score a 39-10 win. Ian Manly, Steve Hale and Aaron Carpenter scored tries for Cowichan with Robin McDowell kicking two converts.
The 1st Div game was a mysterious one that had one of the weirdest endings I have seen ever. Bayside had a very strong contingent of 5 Fijian players on their team and they seemed to dictate play as the game wore on. Cowichan did score 5 trys with that were both called back by the referee that appeared to everyone else to be legitimate scores.
In any event with the clock ticking down and Cowichan in control of the ball and up 18-17, a Bayside player shouted for the ball several times in a ruse to get the young Cowichan ball carrier to pass onto what would appear to be a team mate. The ball got passed, but right into the Bayside players hands (he was calling for it) and he romped 40m for the try. After some consultation between the game ref and the Premier Ref, it was decided that the try was to be called back due to unsportsmanlike play to the Bayside player who was calling for the ball. The game went on for anotheR 2 minutes and then it was over. We win. Lots of hair on fire though and perhaps a protest?
The other three club teams in action this Spring all topped their respective leagues and will enter into playoffs shortly.
Our Senior Women made the difficult trip to Kamloops this past weekend and were rewarded for all their hard work with a resounding 47-0 victory over the host side. Kamloops in the past has always been a tough go, so to be on a bus back home with this big victory certainly must have felt good for the women. The women will play their first playoff game in two weeks probably against U-Vic who has one game left to play vs Seattle this weekend.
Our U-16 Boys, all be it missing U-17 Canadian scrum half, Lucien Nel, came out with 2 resounding victories this weekend. Friday saw the boys travel up to Nanaimo for their final league game and came away 40-0 victors. Sunday, the first round of the VIRU U-16 playoffs, had our boys hosting Velox. The score was 62-22 for Cowichan. Patrick Kay is back from injury and into form playing for the club at Stand-Off and made some incredible kicks along with several romps over the goal line for tries.
This U-16 Boys team is very good and are amazing to watch. The skills and tenacity make them look like they could fit into a men's league somewhere. If you get the chance, make sure you take in their VIRU Final which will be played against a very talented Comox side either this weekend or next. Stay tuned for game times!
Our 3rd Div. men were idle this past weekend and look forward to meeting the winner of the Castaway Wanderers vs Velox this weekend. The Island final will once again be held at Cowichan in a couple of weeks. The guys topped the standings again and look to make a charge into the playoffs. The winner of the Island playdowns will get a home date vs a mainland club in a BC Wide Semifinal, the winner of which advances to the BC Final.
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