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February 23, 2010

THIS WEEKEND'S MATCHES

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27

11:30am: Premier Women Cowichan vs Port Alberni at Cowichan
1:00pm: CDI 1st Division Men: Cowichan vs Meralomas at Cowichan
2:30pm: CDI Premier Men: Cowichan vs Meralomas at Cowichan

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28

Morning: U-10 Rugby at Nanaimo
Morning: U-12 Rugby at Nanaimo
Morning: U-14 Rugby at Nanaimo
1:00pm: 3rd Division Men: Cowichan vs Velox at Velox

THIS PAST WEEKEND

The trip down to Victoria for the match vs the U-Vic Vikings was made that much more difficult due to that nasty crash on the Malahat at 12:30...Pleased the Mounties "Got their Man" on that one.

U-Vic is/will always be tough for most clubs in this league. In two games they have scored 142 points (54 points against Bayside without their 7's players) The students have a huge resource advantage and don't have the issues that clubs like ours have to run a rugby club. Therefore, much emphasis can be placed on senior player development, and that they do very well. I wasn't at the game but got several reports and my sum up is based on these.

The score in the Premier Men's match was, ouch, 75-35....but there were many positives to be taken away from this. Clearly securing a bonus point in this win is a victory for us on the day, something we didn't get in a 31-3 loss to U-Vic last year. Cowichan's Gord Kehoe had a massive game. The U-Vic defenders, many of them Canada caliber, simply couldn't stop the big lock. We kicked off a lot and Gord rampaged down and secured almost every ball, stealing it away from the U-Vic forwards. Mike Roberts played well and had a huge hit on David Spicer. Spicer, who is as tough as nails, did get up and continued, but had to come off at the half. The set pieces were even despite Dan James being out. Big Steve Young, up against Andrew Tiedeman, was even up. Adam Shouten at 9 and Andrew Wood at 10 continue to wrack up points and both had a pretty good game. Clearly U-Vic has the speed outside, and with Cowichan missing 3 of our big defensive pieces in Manly, Geach and Fraser... the U-Vic crew exploited. What was surprising was the lack of defence on the U-Vic side. We scored enough points to win any game at 35 against a pretty talented team full of Carded Athletes and National level players. U-Vic did score 4 trys in the last 10 minutes of the game, hitch vaulted the score line from 52-35 to the final.

In retrospect, I have to say, compared to the same time last year, we are way ahead. After three games in the 2009 season we had only scored 4 trys, had yet to win or secure a point and were at the bottom of the standings.

So far this season after three games we have scored 11 trys, almost three times last years output...have secured a victory the bonus putting us in the 8th spot out of 12 teams with two teams just ahead of us by one point. Bayside vaulted past us with their bonus point win over Burnaby yet the Rowers, Ravens, UBC with UBC the only side to get a bonus point. Those 4 clubs are now behind us with Bayside and CW only one point ahead.

The 1st Div. side had a similar score line and were able to score some trys in the game.

The 3rds beat Comox 10-0 on Sunday and was a pretty good game to watch. Good to see Marvin Seymour back out playing.

THIS WEEKEND AGAINST THE MERALOMAS

This will be the first visit for the Prem. Meralomas since 1999. Back then when we were relegated, the Meralomas were also in a position of being relegated. Somehow they were able to stay up. The Meralomas of new are the defending Premiership Champions and will be a handful at Piggie Park this weekend. They have a solid bunch of veterans and a good brace of youngsters. We will need to be on our game to come away with an upset. Hope to see everyone out supporting the club and Premier Rugby as one of the "storied" clubs in Canada comes to visit.

TIDBITS & CHAT

-There has apparently been some shenanigans regarding teams fielding questionable players so far this season. We'll see if the BCRU CC has the moxy to correct these situations if they come to light. Cowichan has not come across anything questionable so far.

-If you go to the BCRU Website there's allot of information available. You can see who has received red card suspensions, the Competition Committee minutes, standings and schedule.

-We have Cowichan Supporters stickers for your vehicle. Please ask for one.

-Club Clothing will be available at the club this Saturday during the games. (Coats, Shirts etc., etc.)

-Patrick Kay and Robin McDowell will be in Cuba this weekend with the "Dog River Howlers" 7-aside team this weekend. There is a big tournament going on down there and the two Piggies have been invited to participate with the Sask. based Howlers.

-Sponsorship packages are out so please approach any of the Board members if you are interested in sponsoring the club and they will point you in the right direction.

-Disappointing to hear that there will only be two AA High School Boys Rugby teams in Victoria this Spring (Esquimalt and Glen-Lyon Norfolk) Vic High dropped out, reynolds had to move up to AAA and Lambrick and Stellys can't field teams again. AAA Mount Douglas won't field a team this year. (You'd think with their football success they would have the bodies for Spring Rugby) Many schools are struggling to put Junior and Senior sides out this Spring. A new BCHSSA rule has eliminated Junior Boys Rugby in the fall and combined it with Senior Boys Rugby in the Spring. Small schools like Esquimalt with only one coach simply can't be in two places at once, so schools are letting their Junior Rugby slide. This has been a blow to rugby development for sure. Back in the day, Greater Victoria had 11 High School Rugby programs and all were competitive. Late 70's had 7 schools that could win the Victoria Championship. Now we're down to two dominant schools and a handful of others that are hanging on. I like the way the BC High School Girl's Rugby is run. They are not part of the BCHSSA and run as an independent entity. Girls rugby is growing without the politics and encumbrances that Boys Rugby sees.....

-Was out watching our Minis last Sunday. Good group of coaches out including big Marvin Seymour coaching the U-12's. Probably 35 kids out on what was a busy Olympic weekend.....Alls good. They're up in Nanaimo this Sunday where the Hornets will host the Piglets and Comox in a tournament format.

All for now

JJ