Coast to Coast Cup 2022

Canada West With Another Eleven Try Performance Down Atlantic Selects to Claim Coast to Coast Title

This was Canada West’s second 11 try match in a row. They certainly didn’t have problems crossing the line in their two matches.

It was a close match for 35 minutes as the Atlantic Selects, coached by Jamie Cudmore, mirrored their coach’s philosophy on physicality at the contact area. They seemed to catch the Canada West team by surprise with their physicality and they turned over a few balls at the breakdown. That physicality and defensive pressure may have contributed to the early handling errors by Canada West. It was a 12-8 game at the 35 minute mark.

The Canada West forwards eventually adapted with the front row accounting for their first three tries. It was the last 5 minutes of the first half that broke the game open, a second try by hooker Jacob Bossi and then another by #10 Grady Bowd a few minutes later. The match quickly went from 12-8 to 26-8 at the half time break.

As the Atlantic team tired there was more space to be found and Canada West ran in seven second half tries.

There were a lot of outstanding performances and it will be interesting to see which players get invited to camp for the senior men’s summer tests and if any players will get into the match day 23 of those tests. Grady Bowd is certainly one player who not only has the talent but importantly also has the experience – Canada are not flush with international level #10s these days.

Match Scoring Summary

4:02 Atlantic Selects – penalty kick
0-3

10:10 Canada West – try den Ouden – conversion Bowd
7-3

26:15 Canada West – try Bossi – conversion missed
12-3

35:35 Atlantic Selects – try – conversion missed
12-8

38:20 Canada West – try Bossi – conversion Bowd
19-8

41:15 Canada West – try Bowd – conversion Bowd
26-8

HT 26-8

42:15 Canada West – try Max Stewart – conversion Bowd
33-8

49:50 Atlantic Selects – try + conversion
33-15

52:17 Canada West – try Botchar – conversion Bowd
40-15

57:34 Canada West – try Bowd – conversion Bowd
47-15

60:06 Canada West – try Crosby Stewart – conversion Bowd
54-15

63:20 Atlantic Selects – try + conversion
54-22

68:12 Canada West – try Olaniyan – conversion Moloney
61-22

70:22 Canada West – try Olaniyan – conversion Moloney
68-22

77:10 Canada West – try Moloney – conversion Moloney
75-22

Final Canada West 75 – Atlantic Selects 22


*Canada West vs Atlantic Selects Today at 1pm PT – Live Stream on The Rugby Network*

Canada West face Atlantic Selects today in the final match of the Coast to Coast Cup.

Canada West have made some changes, Cody Nhanala who was injured in the first match isn’t in the match day roster. Matt Klimchuk who did well coming off the bench to cover #7 in game one gets the start. The front row remains the same Willem Den Ouden, Jacob Bossi and Kyle Steeves. They looked good against the Arrows Academy, we’ll see how they do against the Atlantic Selects. The second row also remains the same Izzak Kelly and Reid Davis. The loose forward trio with the exception of Cody Nhanala, are also constant, Zephry Melnyk at blinside flanker and Callum Botchar at #8.

There’s been some shuffling in the backline with only Grady Bowd at #10 and winger Jack Morris retaining their same positions. Johnny Franklin is moved from centre to wing, Talon McMullin is shifted from wing to inside centre. Gabe Casey comes off the bench to start at outside centre, and Max Stewart also comes off the bench to start at fullback. Owen Bromball is given the start at scrum half. Crosby Stewart and Mike Moloney who played well in game one will be strong impact subs in the second half. Favour Olaniyan gets his first appearance as reserve tighthead prop. Conor Byron and Jacob Bourne also get their first appearance in the reserves. Canada West have 10 subs for the match while the home town Atlantic Selects have 12.

Kickoff is 1pm PT and live stream is at therugbynetwork.com


*Canada West Dominant in Eleven Try Performance Over Arrows Academy*

Canada West was dominant in a 69-19 win over the Toronto Arrows Academy. Grady Bowd converted seven of the tries.

There were a lot of standout performances in the match, Grady Bowd, as expected, shone in the #10 role. Max Stewart when he came on showed his potential. Izzak Kelly and Cody Nhanala were outstanding, Callum Botchar at #8 had a high work rate, Crosby Stewart dazzled from scrum half, and Mike Moloney won plaudits, especially with his kicking skills. The starting front row of Den Ouden, Bossi and Steeves with Izzak Kelly and Reid Davis in the engine room were dominant. The entire starting XV looked good.

In the reserves, besides the already mentioned Max Stewart, Matt Klimchuk was always go forward and scored two tries. Gabe Casey had some nice touches of the ball. The only area where Canada West didn’t dominate was in the reserve front row, the Arrows began to dominate the sets when the reserve front row came in.

The scoring timeline is below. The first game of the tournament, Atlantic v Arrows, finally found its way to the Rugby Network archives today so the archived video of this match should be available in a day or two.

The final match is between Canada West and Atlantic Selects on Saturday.

Timeline

5 min CanWest try Dawson Fatoric – conversion Bowd
7-0

12:45 CanWest try Izzak Kelly – conversion Bowd
14-0

28:20 CanWest try Talon McMullin – conversion Bowd
21-0

33:43 CanWest try Cody Nhanala – conversion Bowd
28-0

Halftime 28-0

41:00 CanWest try Mike Moloney – missed conversion Bowd
33-0

42:30 Arrows try / conversion
33-7

51:00 CanWest try Matt Klimchuk – missed conversion Bowd
38-7

55:23 CanWest try Dawson Fatoric – conversion Bowd
45-7

57:46 Arrows try / no conversion
45-12

62:00 CanWest try Matt Klimchuk – missed conversion Bowd
50-12

64 min CanWest try Spencer Cooper – conversion Bowd
57-12

66 CanWest try Max Stewart – conversion Bowd
64-12

76:16 Arrows try / conversion
64-19

79:55 CanWest try Talon McMullin – missed conversion Stewart
69-19

Final CanWest 69 – Arrows 19


*Canada West vs Arrows Academy Today 2:30pm PT – Rosters*

The Coast to Coast competition kicked off last Saturday with a 15-10 win for the Atlantic Selects over the Arrows Academy. All the scoring happened in the first half.

Today, at 2:30pm PT, the Canada West team faces the Arrows Academy. The game is live streamed on the therugbynetwork.com – the previous game doesn’t appear to be archived, so the expectation is this game won’t be archived either.

It’s a bit of a strange organizational setup, perhaps expected for a fledgling competition, set up on the fly. The Canada West team releases their roster through the Atlantic Selects media person, Bryan Kelly, the former Rugby Canada media person now working for Rugby Americas North. He didn’t release the roster until this morning which is why this article is coming out on game day.

The starting lineup for Canada West features 7 Pride Academy players, 2 from UBC, 2 from Capilano, 2 from Bayside and one each from CW and JBAA. The reserves are represented by players from the Pride, UVic, Meraloma, JBAA, Ravens and Rowers. A number of top players from the BC Premier didn’t participate in the competition, likely due to work/study commitments. Perhaps most noticeable are the 5 Carsons (4 UBC, 1 UVic) and Cali Martinez (UBC), a top level tighthead prop.

Hopefully organizers put out a tournament all-star selection after the last match which is on Saturday, Canada West vs Atlantic Selects.

Posted in Tournaments & Tours.