Well it's been a while since the last post. Before I add anything let me just say our last bout against Kamloops evened things out...The first half is done and it has been a great first half. Both divisions are 5 wins 4 losses and all losses were games we could and should of had. The firsts have been within 10 points of every almost win.Game Recaps:1) Brits at Kelowna:Kelowna firsts came out fired up and quickly realized fitness was a little shaky for the first match. After controlling most of the game Kelowna wins 18-17.The seconds brought to field a very young and junior team. After opening the game up it looked like Kelowna would sweep the first home game. Cam Pierce plays his first game as a Kelowna Crow and this kid looks impressive! Final result Brits 22 - Kelowna 17.2) Surrey at KelownaKelowna finds the fire for the first match with Steve Doyle at the controls. The game looks to be a blow out as Aaron Zimmer, Blair Williams, and the backs slice and dice Surrey for the first 30 minutes. Then relaxation and mental accuity falter with Kelowna and the match evens. Kelowna continues to keep the full court press on without being able to get the points. In the end after an exciting match Kelowna takes it 19 - 15. Kevin Freh gets a get shot in the local newspaper of him being generous and letting the Surrey player smell his straight arm up close and personal. Joab makes his first debut and he looks like the next Barry Ebl!The Seconds take to the field to even last week's almost win. Kelowna 2nds find a little more structure and control. Revolving #9's in and out seeing Skywalker (Judah Campbell) and Pete McGrath run the pitch Kelowna becomes 1 and 1 with a 35 - 29 victory. 3)Abbotsford at KelownaThe Firsts knowing this will be one of the toughest match ups of the first half come out blazing. Throwing everything at Abbotsford with rock solid defence this match is played outside of each other's 22 for most of the game. A tough last minute tried one from Abbotsford's own 22 sees the game go to the travelers Abbotsford 32 - 22. The seconds jump on the field with the taste of victory from last week and see what they need to do in order for Abbotsford not to sweep the weekend. With Jake Illichmann a little lighter on his feet from a lighter than usual Friday night Kelowna continues to make the gain line. After a late try from Jay Robinson, to Jason Richards, who sets up the winger in the corner from a lineout scamper outside of Abbey's 22 the final is Kelowna 15 - 13. 4) United at KelownaThe firsts suffering a defeat the week before come out with absolute mayhem on the field taking the ball and yards as they want. The game is well organized and phases of ball continue set after set. Brendan Mertagh runs the ball wide open all game. James King at 9 keeps the Kelowna pack asserting themselves all day. Kelowna ends the 80 minutes with the score Kelowna 43 - 18. The seconds hoping to continue to punishment join the pitch and try to work their magic. The game slows to a grind and both teams appear to be fighting for their lives. The back row with Victor Wiens and prop Brian Wiens (no relation) battle set after set. After not a lot of end zone play the game finishes Kelowna 8 - United 5. 5) Kelowna at KamloopsKnowing what happened last year and the great on field rivalry of these two clubs everyone knew today would be a tough match. Kelowna came out with a vengeance. Danny Illichmann and Nate Illichmann back in the line ups from injuries meant there would be crazed Illichmanns running amock. With the Illichmann brothers smashing through the defense line of Kamloops phase after phase opened the channel for Nick Porter. Nick wearing #10 for the day, as Kelowna lost their star Aussie 10 (Keno) with a knee injury before, was unstoppable this afternoon with 3 tries! The final result Kelowna 61 - Kamloops 17. Great work boys!Next up the 2nd XV and with some confidence from the recent wins things looked to be going Kelowna's way. The game was even matched with great back and forth game play. Mark Pinda captaining the squad saw solid defence from Pinda at 12. Anthony Bird set up a kick to the corner which should have been a great try but the referee saw it differently and awarded a 22 meter kick to Kamloops. The squads pounded back and forth the experienced back line of the Kamloops squad was the better on the day. Kamloops 35-0.6) Kelowna at RichmondKelowna still running off of the momentum against Kamloops jumped out to an early lead. Dallas Schmitke was typical self and was the fastest prop on earth. Combining with our other Aussie - Sam the two controlled the game. Then the 78 minute mark happened and two bad things happened for Kelowna. First Richmond scored a try after some lazy defence. Then Kelowna with Josh Zieske's non stop running and dishing got Kelowna into the Richmond 22. Ruck goes to ground and Richmond steal the ball and go blind only to score on the last play of the game to win 24-20.The seconds hit the pitch with short numbers. Thankfully Jason Frey travels unexpectedly as he is nursing a dislocated rib from games previous, Mitch Tabian doubles up for the firsts and seconds and helps out the club. Travelling many sick players Kelowna looks flat as they turn the ball over 4-5 times 10 meters out from Richmond's goal line. End result is Kelowna loses two on a Saturday for the first time. Richmond 20 - 7.7) Kelowna at LangleyLangley is always a grea game on Langley pitch and this game was going to be no different. Jeremy Harris back in the line for the Kelowna boys means we'd have the extra punch needed. The game was a great battle. Kelowna got down in scoring range a few times. Langley kept the heat on and ended up winning a tough close one with a last minute score final Langley 18-11. Seconds focused on bouncing back from last week saw a new energized Kelowna machine. With the front row at full capacity with Big Jim, Evan, and Little Dean saw Kelowna scrums dominating. Anthony Bird at 10 and Kevin Frey and Toby Price supporting him gave the back first three all the space they needed to score up the middle. Ben Sedaat plays his best and smartest game this season and helps keep Kelowna getting behind Langley - from hooker to wing is no easy task. Kelowna 31 - Langley 08) Kelowna at SFUKelowna a little bumped and bruised recently brought an angry Kelowna team to the pitch. Right away Richard Brewer and Chad Pinda didn't make any friends on the pitch with their hard straight up running and even tougher defence around rucks and mauls. Today the Campbell bros lined up 9, 11,13 and was impressive to watch them in action. Kelowna suffered 3 yellow cards and still finished with the result we came for Kelowna 34 - 20.The seconds took to the muddy pitch and with some new additions to the 2nd XV saw a more mobile pack. Rob Walker was very mobile on the day which helped keep Kelowna in the game. Not wanting to let the club travel light Dave and Chris travelled instead of doing work or school work - thanks again boys! Kelowna finishing with a penalty try against and a tough one sided penalty count against Kelowna saw Kelowna squeak out the win Kelowna 26 - SFU 25.9) Kelowna at SeattleThanks to Seattle for meeting us half way in Chilliwack and thanks to Chilliwack for helping host and provide players!!!The seconds take the very muddy pitch first and with some missing key people and pitch conditions being like greesed slip and slides the game had little flow. Mike Choinard at 12 made a major impact as he ran all over Seattle. In the end Seattle was too organized and the result was Seattle 24 - Kelowna 10.The Firsts take the messy field hoping to finish this year off on the right foot. The combination of Blammo at 12 and Caleb Campbell at 13 showed awesome timing. Caleb managed to make his way across the goal line after Blammo drawing a double team. Kelowna looked to have the game in the bag with only moments to go before the whistle. Kelowna down on their 30 and controlling their own lineout. Then what appeared to be an off side intercept for the last play of the game resulted in Seattle having to kick their conversion to win. The far left corner the Seattle kicker was faced with. Today Seattle's kicker was on his game and a 40 yard convert saw Seattle win 15-13. Great first half boys!!! We are definitely one of the clubs eligible for hardware!!! Keep up the grea work, get out running at practice and on your own, get on the weights, see you Tuesday January 6th for regular trainings. Please be 70-80% fit by then.Cheers,Jay
Well, i missed the games, but apparently we were well below our best in the first's game. Well done to the 2nds, who probably won just to make me look bad. We are in a strange position play off wise now.
I've been on the BC Rugby website to check out qualification for the division 1 play offs, and basically we need to make sure that we finish behind only three teams, plus langley and seattle.
Because they won the Fall League, Langley and Seattle qualify automatically for the play offs, and therefore are irrelevant to us in the league placings. so bizarrely we can qualify for the playoffs, all be it in a terrible seeding, by finishing as low as sixth.
Finishing in the last seed position however means that we travel away to Seattle or Kamloops in all likelihood, and they don't come much tougher than that, as they are in top form at the moment.
So we are hanging on by a thread at the moment, but i'm sure we can go to Surrey and get the win we need. Then its all down to other results.
