The senior rugby team travelled to the island on Friday to play Brentwood College in the second round of the Stadium Series. The #1 Cavs defeated #3 Brentwood squad 35-17. As a result, Collingwood continues to be the top-ranked AA team in the province.
It came as no surprise that Brentwood was 'pumped' and ready to play as this was the first meeting between the two teams since Collingwood's win in the BC AA Final last June. BCS quickly took advantage of some poor defensive positioning and their star centre romped 90 metres for an impressive try.
The Cavs roared back to tie the game 7-7 when Joel Abdel-Barr cleverly quick-tapped a penalty kick and scored under the posts. Graeme Neill easily slotted the conversion.
Collingwood then scored two more tries in quick succession as Lucas Okano and Oliver Kodet both scored in the right-hand corner. With a 17-7 lead, it looked like the Cavs were going to take charge. However, it was BCS who scored right before halftime to make it a tense 17-12 game.
After Graeme kicked a penalty to give the Cavs a 20-12 lead, Collingwood scored two more tries to take charge. Nate Holm powered over on a strong run and then Graeme made a terrific 80 metre break and off-loaded to Thomas Simon on the BCS goal-line. With a 32-12 lead, it seemed the game was all but over. However, BCS dominated the last ten minutes of the game and despite some very stout Collingwood defence were able to make it 32-17.
Graeme kicked a penalty in the last minute of play to make the final score 35-17.
The Cavs now face Rockridge on Thursday at Klahanie Park in the annual Hatch Shield game. This is always one of the best high school events on the North Shore each year so it should be very exciting for both teams.
Joel Abdel-Barr has been terrific all year for the Cavs. His quick thinking led to a crucial try against Brentwood.