Cavs Win Hatch Shield

The Hatch Shield game is always an intense affair and Friday afternoon was no exception. Rockridge might be in the midst of a disappointing season by their very high standards, but they came to play in front of their home crowd and gave Collingwood all they could handle in the first half before the Cavs pulled away in the second stanza to post a convincing 40-0 victory. While the final scoreline was high, the game featured all the hard-hitting that is the trademark of Collingwood vs Rockridge battles.

The Cavs opened the game with a series of imprecise kicks that gifted Rockridge some very good field position. This allowed the Ravens to make an impressive line-break that almost led to the first try of the game. Only a desperation tackle saved the Cavs from an early deficit.

Collingwood slowly worked their way into the game and when they earned a penalty, a quick tap by Duncan Bustos led to a try by Nate Holm. Duncan's fine conversion made it 7-0. Four minutes later, Nate crashed over again and Duncan slotted another conversion to make it 14-0. However, all momentum that had been gained quickly disappeared as the Cavs finished the half with an endless string of penalties.

The halftime talk seemed to settle the Cavs and it only took two minutes before Captain Matt Frost bashed his way through the Ravens' defence to make it 19-0. At the seven-minute mark, Nate complete his hat-trick and Collingwood was in full ascendency.

Rockridge's narrow field had helped to keep Collingwood's swift backs in check, but when Cole Young finally got his hands on the ball, he scored two brilliant tries that brought the pro-Collingwood crowd to its feet. On the first, he used his blazing speed to score under the posts. On the second, he used a stunning series of side-steps to leave Rockridge defenders grasping at air.

Collingwood now will play McMath next week in a Lower Mainland semi-final at Klahanie at 4:00.