The field conditions were ugly. The game was ugly. However, in the end, the senior rugby team will take their ugly win over Brentwood and move on. The important thing is that the Cavs found a way to overcome a terrible first half and then play good enough rugby to win an important ranking game that could have great bearing later in the year when it comes to provincial rankings.
The first half was completely dominated by Brentwood. The Cavs spent 80% of first half playing defence. Anytime, they took possession of the ball, they turned it over through losing the ball in contact. To make matters worse, the team was also guilty of numerous infractions and were rightly being penalized off the park by the referee. At halftime, the Cavs were lucky to be only 5-3 down.
In the second half, Collingwood finally found their offensive mojo. First of all, they played much smarter rugby by putting the ball deep into Brentwood territory and forcing them into penalties and mistakes. This led to Cam Bird's second penalty kick of the game, which gave the Cavs a 6-5 lead.
Duncan Bustos started to mix running his big forwards along with crashing centers Carter Proc and Cam Bruk. This started to pay dividends and the Collingwood slowly moved into the ascendency. Unfortunately, some good scoring opportunities were squandered, which kept BCS in the game.
Finally, the Cavs won some quick ball and moved it wide. Jaxson Vickerstaff appeared in the backline and fed the ball to Ethan Lucke who had more than enough speed to leg it into the end-zone.
Now up 11-5, the Cavs continued to press but were unable to truly put BCS away. Once again, ball in contact issues reared its ugly head. However, good team defence kept Brentwood at bay and the Cavs held on for the win.
Forwards Jack Allen, Matt Frost, Max Moyes and Bruce Qin all had big games for the Cavs.
Duncan Bustos tries to elude a Brentwood tackler.
Max McKee rises high to win the Cavs some excellent line-out ball. Max has been one of the main reasons that the team has been so dominant in line-outs this season.