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Cowichan Piggies RFC
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Cowichan $345K Improvements to 8 Acre Facility in Preparation for Fall Season
from John James
posted July 28 2010
Cowichan RFC has had a busy summer infrastructure wise with the major field and grounds project moving towards an end. With September coming soon, rugby is once again in the wind so as the project winds down, rugby will get going.
The club is gearing up for the Sept. 11th kick off to the fall season with plans of placing 4 Senior teams in respective leagues this fall. The club plans on fielding a Premier, 1st Div. and 3rd Div Men's sides and a, Premier Women's side again this season
Training for the Senior Men starts on Tuesday, August 3rd at 7pm. All players welcome to come out and tune up at the new facility!
Coach Chris Evans and his staff are back again this year and look forward to some exciting rugby this fall and spring.
This last year has seen 2.5 acres of new sand based irrigated turf added to the existing 4 acres of turf. We will finally realize our goal of two full sized 100m x 70m International Rugby pitches. Another 20m x 60m space was also created for heavy training and scrimmaging.
The most recent phase of the project saw the contractor raise our parking area 18" and add a complete underground drainage system. This will double our existing parking and spectators will now exit their vehicle onto an all weather clean gravel surface instead of a quagmire.
Next month a 6' chain link fence crossing the property will be constructed along with an upgrade of the drainage around the clubhouse. Two new sets of posts have been purchased and will be installed mid-month in preparation for the resurrection of the Cowichan 7's which will take place on the first weekend in September.
Features of the CRFC Property project have been;
-450m of 12" drains installed both sides of property and in parking area
-1500m of 3" drain pipe in new the sand based turf in a 3m x 3m grid.
-850m of new irrigation pipe installed with 40 new sprinkler heads. (5 new circuits)
-12" depth of Type 15 Turf sand to cover 2.5 acres. (1000 dump truck loads)
-225m of 6' deer fence along west property line
-120m of 6' high chain link fence between fields and parking area.
-New drainage in and around clubhouse.
-New area for playground prepared.
-Existing parking area raised 14" with pit run gravel then 4" of screened gravel added for surface.
-Property landscaped and to be planted.
-New change rooms in basement of clubhouse
-Removal of the grandstands due to liabily, insurance and engineering issues.
-Two new 100m x 70m rugby fields, with 7.5m end zones side by side with 10m between.
-The turf is in and the grass is now maturing and will be ready in a month!
Budget for the project was $345,000.00 of which $80,000 came from BC Gaming and $65,000.00 came from the Federal Recreation Infrastructure Grant Program. The rest was raised locally by club members.
The project will see a more efficient use of the 8 acres of property owned by the club with every inch of the property now dedicated to rugby. 110 games on one field every year was making a mess for the volunteer grounds crew and with two fields, managing the conditions will be much easier. The club also looks good when you enter the grounds as gone are the open ditches, scrubby bush around the perimeter and piles of dirt that accumulated here and there.
Hope everyone has a great summer.
COWICHAN RUGBY CLUB 7’S TOURNAMENT: SEPTEMBER 4 – 5 2010: REGISTER NOW!
from Angie Gudmundseth
posted July 9 2010
On Labour Day Weekend the Cowichan Rugby Club will resurrect its 7's tournament. Cowichan hosted the successful BC 7’s tournament from 1975 to 1992. The Peter Clarke Trophy, carved by famous Native carver Simon Charlie, displays the winners named as: Prince Rupert, Wellington College, BC President’s 7, JBAA, Durham College, UBCOB, Cowichan, Vancouver, and UVic with Meraloma holding the most crowns at 4. Cowichan RFC will also be celebrating founding member Peter Clarke’s 80th birthday.
Being the final of the BC 7’s summer circuit it is planned to be 2 days of great rugby and celebration. Lots of activities planned for the weekend which include an outdoor feast/dance with live music, on grounds camping, along with many non-rugby games and activities with lots of prizes and surprises!!!
Keep checking www.bcrugby7s.com for tournament updates, and get your registration form there, here, or @ www.cowichanrugby.ca
Tournament contacts:
Angie Gudmundseth @ ajgudmundseth@shaw.ca
John James @ fireguy627@hotmail.com
Rhonda Grantham @ paulrhon@shaw.ca
Cowichan Split with Velox, Travel to Bayside This Weekend
posted April 23 2010
Cowichan continues to plod along being very competitive in every game we've played to date.
Cowichan is pleased that the negative tone of relegation may be about to fall off the edge of a cliff. After a very good VIRU meeting on Wednesday evening, all Island clubs were on board with a VRU plan for change. Every club on the island spoke against relegation so let's hope relegation is a done deal. As we all know, relegation is a club killer. Several of the urban clubs, although perhaps at the top their game today, could face future doom if they were ever in the position of losing their place in the Premiership.
The new plan will see opportunities for all clubs to move up into a competitive tier after a good season of regional play. With this new idea, teams that want to move up can based on play, clubs won't lose their players which relegation was so woeful for, and perhaps we'll see clubs from outside the traditional urban strengths rise to the top. It will be nice to go to game where the hot topic will be about winning a championship instead of who's gonna get the gun...
Cowichan struggled on the player front last weekend with 3 key injuries to starters and three key starters off at the Canada U-20 Camp. None the less the team filled the gaps on the Premier side and were able to give a pretty good Velox side a close game up until the last 10 minutes. Velox's #8, Dean Budd played a great game in front of his dad, Mike Budd, who is a director of the Aukland Blues and was a great player in his day. Cowichan was up at the midpoint of the game but some silliness saw the locals lose focus and the more experienced Velox boys were able to take advantage. Good for the youngsters on the Cowichan side who stepped up from the 1st Div and played a good entertaining game.
The 1st Div Piggies have had a good season this year with a 6-4 record. The Velox match again saw a bunch of fill ins due to the missing players up above. The depth of the club is resiliant and although spotting Velox 17 points in the 1st half, the locals got it together and marched past a "distracted" Velox team in the second half. Final score 24-17.
Should be interesting this weekend in the 1st Div. There are about 6 teams vying for the last 3 playoff spots. Now that U-Vic has stepped out of the 1st div playoffs (Norsemen), it appears as though someone else is going to get a home playoff game and the #7 team will now gain a spot in the playoffs...
Cowichan is off to Bayside for our men's matches and we all remember the "fiasco" game in Cowichan last season between the 1st Div sides. Bayside will always be tough as they have a great feeder high school system and one of the best Junior programs.
Top teams not finding Cowichan a pushover: Report from Cowichan News Leader
submitted by John James : by Don Bodger - Cowichan News Leader
posted March 24 2010
A sombre tone emerged from Saturday’s B.C. Premier game at the Cowichan Rugby Club’s Herd Road Grounds after a Capilanos’ player suffered a severely-broken leg.
A delay of more than half an hour resulted while the player received attention from training staff and ambulance attendants, leaving just 13 minutes to be played after the restart.
Capilanos led 17-10 at the time of the injury and the teams traded converted tries during the mini-game, leaving Cowichan on the short end of another tight score, 24-17.
The game restarted with a set scrum after the long delay and Capilanos got a driving maul going after the ensuing lineout.
“It took them 30 metres toward our goal line and resulted in a try,’’ said Cowichan coach Chris Evans.
That put Cowichan in a deep hole but the team wasted no time responding with an Andrew Wood try and his corresponding convert under the posts just moments after the kickoff.
With just a minute and a half left, Cowichan’s Kyle Geach crashed through the centres and got held. He tried to get a pass off to Steve Young, but he couldn’t gather it in.
Young was in the clear for what would have been a sure tying try. But it wasn’t to be and Cowichan ran out of time to equalize.
Cowichan led 5-0 early in the game, but Capilanos went ahead 17-5 at the half.
Cowichan closed the gap to 17-10 in the second half before the long injury delay forced the teams to completely regroup after the break.
It’s another game against a top team that Cowichan easily could have won.
“They denied us possession for most of the game,’’ said Evans. “The way they gained possession and controlled it was really outstanding, I thought.’’
Cowichan persevered through illnesses.
“I take my hat off for the way they gutted it out for the full 80 minutes,’’ said Evans. “These guys are laying their bodies on the line week after week.
“We’ve played the top four teams now, we’ve got a bonus point out of three of them and we could have beaten two of them.’’
Cowichan lost 36-10 to Capilanos in the previous Firsts game.
Cowichan Run Out of Time at Jericho
by John James
posted March 10 2010
Cowichan RFC travelled to the mainland this past weekend with two full busloads of players and fans. Man... Vancouver was a beautiful place Saturday morning with bright sunshine on the Olympic City and surrounds. First time in years Cowichan has been able to travel with over 40 players to an away venue on the mainland.
Jericho beach and park were in good shape and Cowichan was confident that despite that always tough travel situation across the pond the boys were ready for battle with the Ravens, two clubs that met in the Rounsefell Cup final 17 years ago with Johnny Graf leading the Old Boys to a 9-3 win over the Piggies to secure the Championship.
Cowichan's second team, who struggled a bit in the fall, have seen some good fortunes of late and sat with a record of 2-2 before this weekend. Half of this group could well be starting for their High School squads and their leader is Grade 11 student at #10, Patrick Kay. Pat is recently back from Cuba where he played every game for the Dog River Howlers in the Cuba International 7's.
The game was close throughout with the lead switching back and forth until the very last play of the game which saw the young Kay slot a penalty kick from about the 35m line to seal up a 28-27 win for the young Piggies.
The Premier game was pretty even through out. The Raven scored an unconverted try first then Cowichan took over and scored two beauties under the posts to make the score 14-5 for the visitors. The Ravens came back with a try near the end of the half to make it 14-10 at the break. The ever steady boot of Ed Fairhurst would be set to punish Cowichan if an when there was the opportunity and the opportunity presented itself a couple of times mid span in the second half which vaulted the Ravens over the Piggies to make it 16-14.
Cowichan responded with two Andrew Wood boots at goal to make the score 20-16 with about 15 minutes to go. Fairhurst again came to the Raven's rescue and two missed tackles, two tries, score 26-20 for the Ravens. Just like last week vs the Lomas, Cowichan needed to score to win. A converted try was indeed the goal. Cowichan, off a huge scrum at about the Ravens 22m, shoved the Ravens back 5m and easily stole the Ravens put in. The mad scramble started. The Ravens desperately defending their goal line to keep the young Piggies out.
Cowichan purposely moved the ball to a possession point right in front of the posts. The Ref blew up the Ravens for coming in the side of a ruck and Cowichan's captain called for the set piece. Whoops, not allowed according to the referee, not enough time left in the game to have a scrum. The Piggies caught off guard as a result of this strange decision tapped and went in a panic and fumbled the ball on the goal line... game over. Some of the coaches and players wondering how in these last couple of weeks we can't seem to simply get it done. Oh well, what is sport? Ravens were worthy victors and were great hosts after the game. The bus ride home was a memorable one, say no more.
The Women's Premier team met up against a very seasoned Meraloma crew on Saturday and ended up on the short end of a 65-0 scoreline. This is the first taste of Women's Premiership for the Cowichan ladies and there certainly is a growing and learning curve in this league. None the less back at it for this weekend's tilt vs Bayside at home at the Piggie Dome.
This Saturday Cowichan's men will host the Thunderbirds from UBC. Cowichan will seek to avenge the losses last spring at the hands of the students. For the first time this season Cowichan will have all players back and healthy including three key starters who missed the Ravens game.
Cowichan Game Reports: Cowichan v Meraloma
posted March 4 2010
by John James
First of I would like to congratulate all the players who were selected to the Canada U-20 team for 2010.
Cowichan RFC is again well represented by placing 7 players that have donned a green and black jersey at one point in their Junior careers.
Brett Beukeboom (Lindsay RFC/Cowichan RFC/UVic Vikes/Lindsay, ON)
Casey Cavers (Cowichan RFC/U-Vic Vikes/Ladysmith, BC)
Matt Kelly (Toronto Nomads/Cowichan RFC/Toronto, ON)
Scott McLeod (Cowichan RFC/Duncan,BC)
Sean Ferguson (Cowichan RFC/UBC T-Birds/Vancouver, BC)
Pat Fraser (Cowichan RFC/Shawnigan Lake, BC)
Tye Hamblin (Cowichan RFC/Ladysmith, BC)
Whew... what an emotional weekend... GO CANADA GO eh! Great hockey game that couldn't have ended with more excitement! Oh yea...and a rugby weekend that had the Cowichan faithful see some good rugby and an almost victory out of the reigning BCRU Champions Meralomas out of Vancouver. I like the editorial about relegation and couldn't agree more on what was said regarding this year's competition, not to mention the potential downfall of a club when relegated...we've been there!
• Premier Women: Cowichan 47 vs Port Alberni 5
• 1st Div Men: Cowichan 8 vs Meralomas 0
• Premier Men: Cowichan 19 vs Meralomas 22
Our women played the development side from Port Alberni. They showed up with 13 players so the ladies loaned Port a couple and had a pretty good game all in all. Port has one particularly good player at fullback. Great to see Danny Shannon out coaching Port Alberni again (his daughter plays in the forwards). Sometimes that only score is a small yet important victory for new sides like the Black Sheep. It was good to see Port finally cross the line for their only try against quite a few for Cowichan.
MERALOMAS vs COWICHAN
It was kind of nice hosting a club similar in makeup as ourselves... Good Women's program, good Junior program, 3 men's sides and a long history of playing good rugby.
The 1st Div Men, up and down in recent games, had plenty of bodies last Saturday to host a good Meraloma bunch. The Meralomas were good last year and were near the top of the league. It was expected to be perhaps one sided on the day but our youngsters played their hearts out and held the bigger, older Lomas scoreless through the whole game. Matt Melgaard had a good game at #10 as did Jordan McGarvey in the centers. In particular though were those good, tough young guys from Ladysmith. At one point we had 4 Ladysmith boys in the scrum (2 props), and although the heavier, more experienced Meraloma scrum pushed us around a bit, the lads held their own and gained much needed experience.
The Fullback for Cowichan, a Grade 12 student at Ladysmith, was chosen as Man of the Match by the Meralomas after the game. This young guy was superb on the day fielding lots of high ball without a drop and making tons of nice runs and tackles to boot. Mike Blume and Jake Teufle came in in the second half and immediately put the average age of the Cowichan squad up to 28 from 21 years old. Once these guys went in though, their leadership and experience seemed to spur on the youngsters who were able to go over for the try and then secure the backbreaking 3 point penalty near the end of the game to seal the deal.
The 1st's now have a 2-2 record and are in 7th place in league play, one position out of playoffs.
The Premier Men were optimistic on the day as the Mighty Meralomas are the defending Rounsefell Champions. The Meralomas had basically the same line-up for the Lomas as last year including Sean Mercier in the backs, Aiden Buan in the forwards and a very big, seasoned front row. Cowichan, wary of the 56-15 drubbing taken at the hands of the Meralomas last year, were not about to be embarrassed in their own park.
The game was very interesting in the first half... I don't think the Meralomas got out of their half of the field except for the three long distance tries they scored off Cowichan mishaps off high ball and a lineout miscue. Cowichan played well despite missing Ty Hamblin and Pat Fraser to the Canada U-20 camp and Dan James, John Dunbiel and Ty Cook who are still nursing injuries.
At the end of the first half the score was 19-0 for the Meralomas. At the start of the second half, Tom "Hump" Kerswell received a nice pass and split the Lomas defense for a beautiful try that was converted by Andrew Wood. Cowichan then pressed again (we pressed the whole second half) and I think it was Preston Prestowich that went in for the second score making it 19-14.
Meralomas, in their only foray into our side of the field in the second half, benefited from a Cowichan penalty and were able to split the uprights for the 3 points. Score 22-14.
From here on in it was all Cowichan. We went over for another try bringing the score to 22-19. The Cowichan boys pounded away for 15 minutes. Good on the very tired Meralomas for holding the line and not allowing the Piggies over for the winning try. At one point the Meralomas had a player in the bin and it was evident that somehow another Meraloma player snuck on as they had 16 players on the field (15 playing and one in the bin). The play went on for 4-5 minutes near the end of the game before the fans noticed it and the referees shooed the extra player off. Then in a strange twist, a player that had already been subbed off appeared back on the field to do battle only to be sent to the bin for an infraction not related to the substitution issue. That made it two Meralomas out for the remainder of the game, unfortunately the young Piggies just couldn't quite get that ball over the line. Too bad considering we had the momentum and probably should have scored. Having 15 players on the field when there should only have been 14 certainly helped the Meralomas fortunes, and was probably a determining factor in the outcome.
The final whistle went with Cowichan powering forward at the 5m line when an inadvertent Cowichan knock-on sealed the win for the Meralomas. The Meralomas coaches were some relieved and our guys were angry on not taking the game... Rats!
Credit has to go to young Scotty McLeod, who played the whole game at loosehead up against a very good Rhodri Hamner of the Lomas. Scott, not initially selected to attend the U-20 Canada camp this weekend, received the nod to attend Sundays controlled scrimmaging up at Shawnigan and impressed enough to get the nod and made the Canada U-20 roster. Scott has put in yeoman's work standing in at the Premiership level for 4 games while regular, Dan James, recuperates from injury. 21 year old #8 Gord Kehoe had another good game and was selected as Man of the Match by the Meralomas. Kyle Geach was again very steady, at open side flanker Ian Manly kept up his consistent pressure on any opposing player with the ball in hand. The tandem of Adam Shouten and Andrew Wood at 9/10 continue to gel as the season progresses.
Good games for the spectators. Lots of room for improvement on the Piggie side of things so back to work at training!
This weekend will see a road trip over to the Mainland for the Men and Women.
The Prems and 1st Div. Men travel to Jericho Park and will take on the UBC Old Boy Ravens and the Women will take on the Lady Meralomas at Connaught Park.
Cowichan Get Bonus Point in Loss to Vikes: Women Lose Close Game to Valkyries
from John James
posted Feb 21 2010
Despite a major accident on the top of the Malahat that stopped traffic from 12:30-5:00 Saturday, Cowichan RFC was able to muddle their two teams through a by-pass route to get to U-Vic to set up for the games today. Many fans though, were not so fortunate.
Cowichan was up against a lot of firepower here, the full on U-Vic bunch with an all star backline including their 7's players and carded players all back and rostered up. Despite this, Cowichan is very pleased to able to punch in 5 tries to secure the bonus point. A very important small victory for the club, where bonus points could mean the difference in a playoff spot or not.
The game was a bit of a track meet with two pourous defences and missed tackles allowing way too many rambles over the goal line considering the talent on the field.
Cowichan was down 42-10 at the half.
The second half saw only a couple of roster changes for both teams with Spicer for the Vikes coming off and Gudmundseth off for the Piggies.
Cowichan scrambled back to score enough tries in the second half to secure the bonus... something we did not get from the Vikings last season.
It's all good...
Cowichan Women
Premier Women: Velox 22 - Cowichan 7
With Cowichan playing another tough Exhibition game against Velox. The Cowichan women are all graduates of Cowichan's very good Junior Women's program and the robust Girl's High School Rugby programs in the Valley. They look forward to competing in the Premiership this year.
Velox, bolstered this season with 5-6 National team members in their line-up, came out strong with the score being 10-7 at half time. Cowichan has switched a couple things up in the scrum and it seemed to work, with Lenneke Vinoly coming into hooker, she had an outstanding performance for her first game every hooking and throwing in. With Lenneke going to hook, that frees up Audrey Park and got her in the back row, she played an aggressive game like usual and got stuck into a fair amount of mauls, and really dominated!
Kacey Mosley had an outstanding performance like usual but this was Kacey's first game ever jumping in the line outs and it seemed to work out, she was quick off the side of the rucks and stuffed the Velox scrum half more then a few times.
In the backs it was Centre Erin Davies who smashed through the Velox defense to score. (Caity Genereaux kicking the conversion). The back line was missing Carolyn Gudmundseth once again this weekend but with much more communication they were able to get things sorted out. The score does not reflect the amount of pressure that we put on Velox.
We were excited to have Jackie Wiggelsworth and Kate Scott-Polson join the roster this weekend, even though they haven't been around lately, they didn't miss a beat.
Cowichan See Improvement In This Year's Encounter Versus Bays
by John James
posted Feb 18 2010
Cowichan RFC ,after its season opening winning weekend tripped on over the Malahat and down to cold old MacDonald Park for a couple of games vs the always tough Bays.
The Bays have 30 solid players on both their rosters and good players off the bench to boot. They roster a well balanced squad with lots of young up and comers, key, quality new players like Moonlight, Marshall and Meechan they have brought in and probably the biggest advantage over almost everyone, that on field leadership demonstrated by the likes of Ramsey, Yoon, Dunkley and Robson.
Cowichan has also come up a few steps in their level of play with some key additions in positions that were considered soft for us in the past.
The game started with Cowichan pressuring JBAA in their own end for the first 10-12 minutes. Typically, Cowichan was unable to capitalize when they have their opponent in a vulnerable position. Instead,JBAA was able to gather up an errant ball around their 40m line, break one tackle and saw once upon a time Piggie, Dan Harlow, scamper 60m for the try. Then in the next 8 minutes, that missed first tackle saw the Bays skewer into the end zone for two more trys. James Bay is so good at capitalizing on mistakes and when you commit the error, the transformation from defence to offence is immediate. These guys are very quick in the transition game which comes with experience and great coaching. It was kind of a goofy game at this point as during the 18 minutes where JBAA scored, most of the play was in the Bays end of the field. Cowichan needs to beef up on leadership as a team like James Bay clearly senses dysfunction and is quick to capitalize.
Shortly after Cowichan regrouped and it was game on. Andrew Wood slotted a penalty then Gord Kehoe barged over for a try that Wood converted making the score 19-10. Cowichan had several opportunities to score another in "Coffin Corner" and they had when big prop, Steve Young, tapped on a penalty and stormed over for what everyone thought was a try. Nope... Mr Official said that you must tap through the mark on the way for the play to start. The mark was 2' away and the referee was standing on it at the time the play went ahead. This would have brought Cowichan to perhaps within 2 points at halftime. Instead the Bays keyed off the errant second "panicked" attempt at the penalty, took a lineout and stormed back to score a try of their own at the half time whistle. Instead of down 19-17 at the hold, the Piggies found themselves down 26-10.
Buoyed with the fact that this young bunch can play with the big blue from Victoria, and considering the score line last February was 71-0 the halftime talk did much to help the boys keep the pressure on.
The second half was one of opportunities lost for Cowichan.
Cowichan quickly scampered down after some crafty back play that resulted in Kyle Geach scampering into the end zone for the score. 26-15. Geach then received another nice ball from Wood and a nifty little chip saw the ball sail just into the end zone and the footrace was on. Despite some creative "blocking" by the Bays center (ref failed to notice) the race was barely won by Bays Winger, Nolan Miles, which thwarted another Cowichan scoring attempt.
The Bays scored a try of a penalty on the Cowichan 5m line where Ian Manly was binned for a crunching, yet unwrapped, tackle on Nolan Miles. Score 31-15. Cowichan then pressured again when a skip pass hit 330 lb. prop Steve Young in the centers. sensing a quick tackle, "Chunk" showed his athletism by spinning the ball 20 m. out wide to a waiting Cowichan winger who then passed inside to the rampaging hooker, "Precious" Preston Prestowich who stormed in for the score. 31-20.
Cowichan then had the Bays pressed up against their goal line for several minutes and Cowichan again seemed to panic with the thoughts of another score. The Bays, with deep wisdom, calmly waited for the predictable Cowichan mistake to be made and alas, the Bays end up with the ball. There were several opportunities lost near the end of the game for Cowichan to claim that all important bonus point yet it simply wouldn't come.
As a sum up there were lots of positives off this loss. The bench is deeper this year and Cowichan was able to spell of several players and bring on quality players late in the game that had an impact. The set pieces were fairly even, with neither team losing a put-in. Clearly there is room for improvement and this group of players are improving with each game played. The play of blind side flanker, John Dubiel, who at 18 years old is really coming along and has been a pleasant surprise for Cowichan. The difference in this game was that veteran leadership that James Bay has stamped all over their club and which Cowichan is trying to establish.
Good game for the fans, good rugby by both teams and boy, those Hot Rums tasted good after the match! JBAA hosted well after the game as usual!
Next up for Cowichan... the youngsters vs youngsters at U-Vic...
Cowichan Claim First Scalp of Season: Cowichan 22 - Burnaby 13
by John James
posted Feb 8 2010
Premier Game: Cowichan 22 vs Burnaby 13
1st Div. Game: Cowichan 7 vs Burnaby 5
Cowichan RFC's second season back into the Premiership started with a much needed victory which resonated well with Cowichan supporters and players alike. The Premiership is good for rugby in the Cowichan Valley and clearly, spectator support for rugby, as predicted, is 4-5 times better when top level games are played locally. The sidelines were crowded and the clubhouse full!
Cowichan's top side, is definitely an "Academy Team" with and average age of 22 and several teenagers playing top rugby. Cowichan has had good training sessions lately and the depth continues to grow.
The coaching staff decided to sit 4 starters on the day where in the past perhaps players with niggling injuries would be forced to play. Cowichan has 9 new players in the starting prems squad including several former Piggies that have decided to return and play top rugby for their club. Pat Fraser for instance, at U-Vic and not getting any playing time due to their depth, decided to make the move back to Cowichan where he has fit in nicely on the Prem's side. Pat has been selected to play for the Canada U-20 team this year so playing at the top level will afford him the opportunity to be at the top of his game when they travel to Russia in June. Ty Hamblin, another Canada U-20 lad, has returned from Ireland to play for his club and although unavailable for this weekend, will no doubt make an impact in the centers for the Piggies. Kyle Geach also made his return to Cowichan with the flair he demonstrated over the last few years while playing in Burnaby. Judsen Garside, back off an injury suffered last summer, will be another nice addition after his fitness improves from playing a couple of 1st Div games.
This weekend saw Burnaby back playing at Cowichan for the first time in 12 years. Cowichan faithful all remember the Burnaby vs Cowichan Premiership final in 1997, the last time the two clubs met in Premiership action.
Cowichan started an all new front row as regulars Doug Wooldridge is in Wales and Dan James wasn't available on the day. On comes Steve "Chunk" Young at tighthead, Preston Petrovich at Hooker and 18 year old Scotty McLeod at loosehead, all new to this level of rugby and up against the big, blue collar boys from Burnaby.
The game started with Cowichan playing a control game against the new look Burnaby boys who fielded a bunch of new players including a troupe of Fijians that played last year with Bayside. Cowichan's 9-10 combination, in their first game, of Adam Shouten and Andrew Wood clicked early on and saw nice ball being delivered to the backs in an efficient speedy manner. The hard char
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