Fan support, a festival atmosphere and even a powerful fashion statement were on display for the Capilano Rugby Club’s premier men’s home opener Saturday, although the only thing missing from the party was the result.
With more than 1,000 patrons on hand to catch the action, the Caps fell 28-8 to the UBC Thunderbirds, two-time defending CDI Premier League champions. UBC took an 18-3 lead into halftime and pushed their advantage to 28-3 before Capilano closed the gap with the last try of the game.
“The guys finished strongly … I was pleased with the commitment,” said Capilano head coach Keith Reeves. “I do think UBC probably have more quality across the club then we do at the moment. I don’t think that’s going to be a permanent thing.”
Reeves’ belief in his team’s ability to catch up to and ultimately pass the high-flying T-Birds stems from the odd position that the Capilano premier team is in to start the season. This is the second year that BC Rugby has run a fall session for eight Lower Mainland-based premier teams – including Abbotsford and Seattle – with the sole purpose of narrowing the field down to six for the official CDI Premier League season that will begin in early 2017. The bottom two teams drop down to Div. 1 for the spring season, while the standings reset for the top six as they are joined by Vancouver Island teams in the Premier League in the new year.
“The only thing you’ve got to play for before Christmas, realistically, is to avoid relegation,” said Reeves. “I’ve never come across this before. It’s a very unusual way to run a competition. You can’t win anything, but you can lose a lot.”
Knowing those stakes, several of Capilano’s premier team regulars have opted not to play the fall session, intending to return once the Premier League proper begins. That’s left Reeves scrambling to fill more than half of his starting lineup with players who weren’t on the premier team last year.
“It’s been a difficult pre-season this year,” said Reeves. “We’ve not seen truly what the squad’s strengths were. … I don’t like it, personally. I don’t like the splits between the first half and the second half of the season. A lot of the guys see it as two quite separate competitions.”
The good news for Capilano is that they had a cracker of a Div. 1 squad last season that won their league title. A lot of those players are now getting a taste of premier play this fall.
“The first division guys are very good players – they were a very good team last year, they went through the year unbeaten, never looked like losing, including in the final,” said Reeves. “And half of those guys are playing in the prems now for me, and that’s how it should be, really, if you’re a developing team. I think when we get the other guys back, if we get the other guys back after Christmas, we’ll have a very strong squad of guys who want to commit and play out for Capilano.”
Premier veterans Chris Robinson and Jordan Reid-Harvey are leading the way for the team, with promoted Div. 1 players Rich Merinsky, Dave Owen and Jason de Freitas jumping in to provide some more muscle up front.
“I think we’re going to be a lot more physical than we were last year, our pack is certainly bigger than it was, quite deliberately so,” said Reeves. “I’d like to think we can still play an off-load game, still break defences down by playing some attractive rugby – less kicking, more running. I think we’re developing on what I learned last year, really. You can’t turn a small pack out in B.C. rugby, because there’s teams like Burnaby and Ravens and others who are big boys. If you don’t win the lineouts and don’t win the scrums, it doesn’t matter how good your backs are – you’re going to struggle without possession. We’ve deliberately gone a little bigger this year to try and match them.”
The Caps have also been helped in the early going by elite players Adam Zaruba and Harry Jones, who will likely leave the club soon to rejoin the national sevens team for the upcoming grand prix season. Jones suited up in Capilano’s season opening 17-16 road win over Vancouver Rowing Club Sept. 17 while Zaruba has been in the lineup for both of Capilano’s games so far.
“It’s been great having those guys around,” said Reeves. “They set an example on the pitch, never give less than 100 per cent and it’d be nice if we could have them for a little longer, but I don’t think we will.”
Another welcome returning players is Kayne Tapiki, who rejoins the premier men after a five-year absence.
“The guys that are playing for me now are there because they really, really want to be there, and that makes it a good group of players to work with,” said Reeves, adding that he has modest goals for the fall season.
“I said my objectives at the beginning were 1) not to get relegated and 2) build a squad over the course of this first half where we can really challenge in the second half. I think if we win four out of those seven games before Christmas with the players that are coming through from the lower levels in the club, then I think we will have achieved both of those goals.”
The club has already reached one goal this season of raising more than $5,000 dollars for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The premier men wore pink jerseys on Saturday, each one purchased by a club patron for $100 with all proceeds going to the foundation. Through jersey sales, partial gate proceeds and other fundraising activity, more than $21,000 has been raised through five years of Pink Day celebrations, accoring to the club.
“It’s a great day for the club,” said Reeves.
The premier men will have a chance to work towards their on-field goals this weekend when they host Seattle Saracens Saturday in a 2:45 p.m. kickoff.
“I’m hoping it will be an open, fast, attractive game,” said Reeves, adding that both teams will look a lot different than they did when they met with full rosters last season. “I’d like to think that we have strength in depth at Caps, and are building on that, but we’ll know properly on Saturday.”
