Capilano Weekend Match Reports: Klahanie Park Welcomed Teams from Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Vancouver Island
by Steve Feenstra
Klahanie Park in West Vancouver welcomed teams from Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Vancouver Island for a full day of long missed rugby.
2nd Division Women
Chilliwack 0 – 51 Capilano
3rd Division Men
Chilliwack 39 – 0 Capilano
1st Division Men
Abbotsford 33 – 24 Capilano
Premier Men
RC Pride 24 – 35 Capilano
Capilano RFC hosted Chilliwack 3rd Div. Men, Chilliwack 2nd Div. Women, Abbotsford 1st Div. Men and Rugby Canada Pride in the Premier matchup. Unfortunately, the Premier women’s game was cancelled.
The 3rd Div. game between Caps and Chilliwack was a one-sided affair in Chilliwack’s favour as the Caps were a bit tight on numbers and a few SnowCaps were deputized to come and relive their glory days. All came though unscathed. Congrats to Chilliwack and thanks to the ref.
The Chilliwack 2nd Div. women suffered a one sided as well, losing to the Cap. 2nd Div. Women by a large score. It was impressive, though, to see the Chilliwack women tracking down and tackling the Cap women as if the score was tied. There was no quit or let up in the valley team.
On to the 1st Div. men’s game that was a tale of two halves.
Caps opened their account at the 9 min. mark with a nice intercept that was quickly lost only to be recovered again and popped over. With a Joe Britt convert 7-0 Caps. Britt then slotted a penalty to nudge the Caps lead to 10-0. A long run from the centre line by Caps Matt Nicol for another try coupled with another convert made the score 17-0 Caps. With the Caps on the front foot, they pushed yet another try over after some scrambly play. Another convert and the board read 24-0 Capilanos.
Although the scoreboard told us the score, the game didn’t feel like a blow-out and it turned out to be anything but. Abby came back hard in the last 10 minutes of the 1st half. A long run after a scrum win for Abby had them crack the egg at the 33 min. mark but no convert so it was 24-5 Caps. Then just before the hooter signaling half time Abby touched down again and with the convert made it 24-12 at half time.
Capilano subbed liberally at the half but Abby took no notice and played a hard expansive game that took advantage of their outside speed. ( Although their # 10 did some damage inside).
All this to say Abby was the stronger team in the 2nd half and showed it by them running in three converted tries to make the final 33-24 Abby. Congrats to Abby for the comeback and thank to the ref.
The Premier game promised to be up tempo with the Pride looking at stretching the field with all their youthful energy and the Caps utilizing their solid engine room to keep the game in their control.
The Pride opened the scoring with a scintillating run from the center line that deked two defenders and had the ball dot down under the posts. With the extras 7-0 Pride. Capilanos answered quickly with big Jesse Ryan forcing the ball over the Pride line at the 8 min. mark. With the convert 7-7. At the 15 min. mark Caps Jeremy Simon showed why his kicking skills are arguably among the best in the league. Under pressure Simon calmly slots a drop kick from distance to make the score 10-7 Caps. The Pride roared back with a Matt Klimchuk try with convert to jump back into the lead 14-10. But the Pride lead was short lived as Caps Jordon Harvey mauled one in that with the convert put Caps back on top 17-14 at the half.
The second half kick-off by the Caps was immediately returned to the Caps and after some scrambly play Caps drive the ball over. With the extras 24-14 for the black and gold. At the 47 min. mark Caps attack again from a line out that they maul into the corner to make the score 29-14. A converted penalty by the Caps makes it 32-14 at the 57 min. mark. The Pride were not done at this point and traded two tries against one for the Caps to make the final 35-24 Capilanos.
A solid first outing for the Caps as they had a bye on the opening weekend of play. For the Pride I think they would be the first to acknowledge that ball handling errors made a difference in their game. Thanks to the Pride and thank you to the ref.