The junior rugby team has had a terrific season so far. They went undefeated in league play and handily won their North Shore semi-final against Handsworth. Unfortunately, they ran into a big and physical Carson Graham team in the North Shore Final yesterday and lost 11-0. However, they are still alive in the hunt for a berth in the BC Junior Championships. Here is a report from Coach Hall:
The Junior Boy's rugby team entered the North Shore playoffs as the #1 seed after an undefeated regular season. The semi-final game match up was against Handsworth who they had defeated just the weak before. As has been a theme all season, the constant rain had shut down Klahanie Park so the game was moved to the much smaller Mountainside venue.
Matched up against a big strong team in Handsworth, Collingwood knew they would need to play a quick, high tempo game to be successful. Right from the start, Collingwood asserted themselves well, however, an intercept try against the flow of play saw Handsworth score the first points of the game. Collingwood responded well though and tries from Linus Hartner and Kirk Fuller put Collingwood in the lead at half. The second half was more of the same. Some good tactical kicking from Graeme Neill-Klein, and some excellent play around the field from Lucas Okano steered Collingwood to a 31-5 win which booked them a trip to the North Shore Finals vs. Carson Graham.
The final also served as the Lower Mainland semi-finals with the winner securing a spot to the Junior Provincial tournament. Collingwood had played Carson Graham a couple of weeks earlier and narrowly defeated them 7-5. They knew they would need to play better in this one if they wanted to have the same sort of result.
Unfortunately, this was not Collingwood's day. Despite having a lot of possession throughout the game, Collingwood were unable to crack Carson's stout defensive pressure. When opportunities did arise, Collingwood were just not quite sharp enough to execute. Some very brave play by many players against the much bigger Carson squad should be commended. Despite that, Collingwood were disappointed to come out on the losing end of a 11-0 score.
All is not lost though, as here is still a pathway to get to the Provincial Tournament. That starts this Friday when Collingwood take on Lord Byng in the ¾ Lower Mainland game.
Graeme Neill-Klein on attack with Nate Holm in support.
Joel Abdel-Barr fights through a Handsworth tackle with Joey Ficocelli coming up in support.
Thomas Foote looks to pass to Mark Konigsmann with Lucas Okano in support.