Coastal Cup Week 6 Results: Vancouver Wave, Pacific Pride and Van East Claim Wins
Pacific Pride 46 – TWU 17
The Pride were in control from the opening whistle but TWU played with heart for 80 minutes and were rewarded with two late tries through their star winger, Tamilore Awonusi. He’d be a useful addition to the 7s long list if he was Canada eligible.
Scoring tries for the Pride were: James O’Neill, Emerson Prior, Lucas Sheck, Cody Nhanala x2, Jake Thiel x2 , Jarvis Dashkewytch. Conversions were from Max Stewart 1 and Brennig Prevost x2.
The following photos give an overview of key players and moments. All 74 photos are on nationalrugbynews.com
Cody Nhanala had a strong game from blindside flanker, his strong run setup the first try, scored by James O’Neill.
James O’Neill always in support from the openside flanker position is rewarded with the first try
Brennig Prevost had a good match at fullback, making line breaks throughout the match and was rewarded with 2 tries. The big Spartan wing, Tamilore Awonusi, in the background had to play a lot of defence but still had the gas to score two late tries.
Taitusi Vikilani would be one of the candidates for man of the match with his storming runs in open field. At #8 he didn’t score a try but set some up with strong runs.
Liam Murray at loosehead prop also was dominant in the open field with aggressive runs that helped to set up tries.
Jake Thiel made his presence felt when he subbed in the second half, scoring two tries. His ability to beat defenders one on one, honed in 7s, comes in handy in XVs as well.
Last word should go to Cody Nhanala who probably was man of the match, scoring the last Pride try.
The Pride have a bye week while TWU finish their season at home against the Crimson Tide. The Vancouver v Pride game on November 13th at Klahanie Park will be a winner take all match to determine the inaugural Coastal Cup title.
Vancouver Wave 25 – Crimson Tide 24
Apparently an exciting match which was won at the end by the boot of Mike Moloney, the leading point scorer in the league. The Wave led 10-7 at the half. Scoring for the Wave were Neil Courtney, Isaac Winter, Jesse Hocking. Vancouver host UVic next week while the Tide travel to TWU.
Van East 27 – UVic 15
The following recap is courtesy of the Vikes website:
6th Minute VanEast 5, UVic 0
The visitors would register the first try in the opening minutes of the match.
17th Minute VanEast 5, UVic 3
The Vikes would get on the board via penalty goal, which was sent through the uprights by Christopher Gamage.
30th Minute VanEast 12, UVic 3
After back-and-forth turnovers by each team, VanEast broke through to add a try and conversion to their lead.
34th Minute VanEast 12, UVic 10
Finding the in-goal area for the first time in the match, Graeme Norris touched the ball down for five points.
Gamage was successful on the conversion to cut VanEast’s lead to two.
38th Minute VanEast 19, UVic 10
VanEast added one more score on a try and conversion before the end of the first half.
51st Minute VanEast 19, UVic 15
Breaking away from the VanEast defenders, Noah Bain slipped through oncoming threats on his route from centre field to the in-goal area for the try.
61st Minute VanEast 22, UVic 15
On their first awarded penalty goal of the match, VanEast was successful on the attempt to take a seven-point lead.
78th Minute VanEast 27, UVic 15
Putting one final score on the board, VanEast scored a try in the final minutes.
Van East host UBC next week which should be a good game with a top quality live stream. UVic travel to Vancouver, match is at Connaught Park.
*Coastal Cup Week 6 Predictions & Rosters: TWU Spartans @ Pacific Pride; Van East @ UVic Vikes; Vancouver Wave @ Island Tide*
Only 3 weekends left in the inaugural Coastal Cup competition. At the present the Pacific Pride and Vancouver Wave look on track for a title match on November 13th at Klahanie Park.
TWU @ Pride – 12:30 at Westshore
This should be an emphatic win for the 1st place Pride over the winless Spartans. The Pride were humbled a bit by UBC last week when they were held to a draw, only scoring at the whistle to salvage the tie. UBC were the more physical team and the Pride weren’t able to adapt their game plan to handle UBC’s strong forward’s effort. TWU played their best game last week, keeping close to UVic and scoring a couple of tries late in the game to narrow the gap. TWU will be without Guiseppe du Toit this week. For the Pride, Emerson Prior moves from loosehead to hooker, Liam Murray slots into loosehead and Blake van Heyningen remains at tighthead. The second row changes up with Callum Botchar and Callum O’Neil. Matt Oworu has been called up to the Canada squad touring to Europe so Taitusi Vikilani moves from blindside to #8. Cody Nhanala moves to blindside with James O’Neill remaining at openside. Scrum half remains Sam Reimer and young South African Max Stewart gets his first start at #10. Brennig Prevost comes into the side at fullback after exciting the 7s world with his performance at Vancouver and Edmonton. Jake Thiel is on the bench and look for him to show up perhaps at #8 in the second half. Prediction: Pride by 25.
Vancouver Wave @ Island Tide – 1pm at MacDonald Park
This was originally scheduled for 2:30pm but has been moved up to 1pm with the cancellation of the Nanaimo v JBAA Div 1 match. The Wave are still the only team with a perfect record, no draws or losses. The Tide have Grady Bowd running the backline at #10, Mike Fuailefau is making his first appearance in XVs in a while as an impact sub, likely in the centres. George Barton starts at #12. Bryce McKinnon, the former football player, is on the bench as loosehead reserve, he was with the Pride program before COVID hit. The Wave are coming off an important win over Van East in Burnaby last week. They have a consistent roster, it looks to be almost the same 23 as last week with some of the reserves switching with the starting XV. The only change seems to be on the bench, Brian Moylett not travelling and Alex Carmel in the reserves. The Wave are playing good structured rugby, they have a balanced attack and good defence. They have a top kicker in Mike Moloney who leads the league in points. Prediction: Wave by 6.
Van East @ UVic – 3pm at Wallace Field
Van East are another team with a consistent roster, they’ve moved some players around, Lucas Albornoz isn’t travelling with the team so Mike O’Toole moves from blindside flanker to second row and Doug Breadon moves off the bench to blindside. Geoff Ryan isn’t in the roster so Neil MacLaine moves into the #10 spot from #12 and Sean McKeown moves from the bench to #12. Brian Fitzpatrick is the leading try scorer in the league. The Vikes have Nick Carson back at #8 and Gabe Casey ran the backline well from the #10 spot in their win over TWU last weekend. Noah Bain is a player to watch on the wing. Van East have too much power in the forwards, a point they demonstrated in Week 1 when they put 4 tries up on the Pride in the first half. They have the top try scorer in the backs who also has a good boot and is second overall in points scored. Prediction: Van East by 8.
