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September 5, 2010

Premier Men: Cowichan 43 vs Velox 12

Cowichan's Men's squad took the field for it's second exhibition match at home vs Velox out of Victoria. Both teams were missing some players, but all in all, the teams seen on the field Saturday will form the nucleus of respective squads that will start the league campaign next weekend.

The day started out with a very successful work party where 4 goal posts were raised, two International sized fields were lined and the club grounds and building "freshened up" prior to next weekend's big home opener where we host Nanaimo Hurricanes, Nanaimo Hornets and then the Castaway Wanderers.

Velox came up with there squad in preparations for their league opening matches down at MacDonald Park against JBAA. Cowichan's Premier Men have a bunch of new faces this fall after the loss of 6-7 Premier players from last season. One thing that has certainly picked up is the level of intensity and quickness in the backs. There was marked improvement over last weekend's performance where Cowichan's backs seemed to click together much better and there were some dropped balls instead of lots as we saw against Port Alberni.

Peter Budina, very versatile at #10, #12 and #13, has added an aggressive approach to quick ball and when partnered with Mike Roberts, the Piggies defense in the middle has stiffened. After the game Velox people were quick to commend the Cowichan defense and in particular Budina and Roberts. The defensive systems former National Coach, and now CRFC Assistant, John Tate, is is installing is giving the young Piggies confidence for sure.

Josh Hart, out of Manitoba, certainly put his stamp on Island Rugby in his second game. This kid can sure scamper ball in hand which was evident as he left many opponents in his wake in yesterday's game as well up in Port Alberni. The kid can also tackle. Velox's Dean Van Camp, who is a Premier back in British Columbia, was able to sometimes crack the Piggies first line of defense, but, in came Josh Hart to mop up and make the difficult tackle on a rampaging Van Camp. Very impressive. Recent comments I found on line line about this youngster, "Hart, HP Academy and current U20 player was identified by Geraint John, RC HP director in 2009. Hart was subsequently scouted at the 2010 Prairie U20 Championships held in Regina by the National team staff."

The crowd on hand was also impressed with the combination of Josh, David Cowie, Sean Williams and Pat Fraser in the deep backs. It was exciting, move the ball quickly and blazing speed rugby!David and Sean have really stepped up, put on some size and the speed out wide is nice to see. There was one point in the game where Velox, under pressure, made an Aaron Frisby clearance kick. where the ball was taken nicely on the sidelines near midfield by Cowie who deftly spun the ball 20m to a rushing Josh Hart who then moved forward 20m and made a nice pass to Sean Williams, playing on the other wing. Williams took the ball at full pace, made two would be Velox tacklers miss and into the end zone for nice crowd pleasing try.

Andrew Gudmundseth, starting at #9, seems to have regenerated himself as a leader out there and was rewarded with the first try on our new fields. Pat Kay started at #10 and the Gudmundseth/Kay combination seemed to click. Pat has put on some size since last season and it shows he has a place playing top rugby. Once the #9 to #10 combination gets settled and used to each other the level of play should rise even further.

I think everyone has noted the play from the wing forwards - Rob McDonnell, Mike Reay, John Dubiel, and some new guy. The fitness and quickness of Rob and John have opened eyes this late summer and one definite change is their pace has upped over previous years. The quickness ability to get to the breakdowns of the whole team actually is something we've not seen recently. Louis Gudmundseth went at #8 this game and he was able to make positive gains every time he picked the ball up from the back of the scrum.

The front row was again solid and steady taking on the always pretty good front three from Velox - (Lunk, Lyall and Robertson. The smaller Cowichan pack have trained lots together and work very well combining fitness and technique to neutralize the oppositions pack. The 5 locks out on the day were switched back and forth and some new, young faces in this area had eyebrows raising.

So all in all, the days was good. Our first game on the new pitch was weird to watch after going north south for so many years and now standing watching the players roam east west took a bit of getting used to. The pre-game work party saw about 30 people out and lots of work got done to spiff up the club and grounds.

As the regular season approaches it would be nice to see a few more players out in order to compliment the three men's teams that we will field this upcoming weekend.

We did have several players away on Saturday and with 4-5 other committed player additions over the next few weeks it should help (ie: Cam McCullogh). But, optimistically, we are encouraged by the very successful pre season campaign (2 wins with 115 points for and only 19 against). The real stuff begins next Saturday though with the big home opener against Nanaimo and CW... so, as yesterday's game suggests, there is still a need for improvement and there's nothing better than playing actual games as we have done this past two weeks. Two more big days of training this week, so please everyone out!

COACHING STAFF FOR FALL 2010

    Head Coach: Chris Evans
    Asst. Coach: Gary Dukelow
    Asst. Coach: Gudy Gudmunseth
    Asst. Coach: John Tait
    Asst. Coach: Dave Hitchcock