The BC AA defending champions opened Lower Mainland league play against Bryne Creek, which was playing in its first ever league game. While Collingwood was not looking to crush a brand new program, the lack of any game time before the Cavs' upcoming Australian tour was a major issue that forced the coaches to field their strongest team for at least the first 12 minutes of the game. At this point, the substitutions started and by halftime the full bench had been rotated in. This means that everyone going to Australia has had at least a little contact under their belt before facing some tough opposition 'Down Under'.
The Cavs scored early and often as they built a quick 17-0 lead in the first six minutes with tries from Lucas Okano, Tyler Preston and Nate Holm. By halftime, the score was 52-0 with Owen Huston, Thomas Foote, Alex Ferreira, Graeme Neil-Klein and Bill Yao all scoring their first tries of the season.
The second half was much closer as Bryne Creek managed to score three fine tries of their own. Answering for Collingwood were Blaise Benoit (2), Shervin Etemadahari (2), Linus Hartner and Chase Soprovich. Blaise also displayed a lethal foot as he converted nine tries.
The coaches were very happy with this display as a number of players stepped up and showed they want to contend for starting positions on the team. The boys are back to practice for the rest of the week before their 11:45pm flight to Australia on Friday night.
Nate Holm has just returned from 7's duty for the BC U-18 team. He will be one of Collingwood's key backs this season.