THE Capilano Rugby Club racked up a string of victories to close out the 2011 season, claiming three championship titles in one busy weekend of action at Klahanie Park.
The club's elite men, last season relegated from the province' top league, proved that they are once again a power to be reckoned with in claiming the Lower Mainland championship with a 20-11 win over Burnaby Lake in the Spray Elite League Miller Cup final Saturday at Klahanie.
Capilano never trailed in the final despite playing a man short for 20 minutes of the match due to yellow card infractions. Carson Graham grad Matt Yanagiya supplied most of the scoring for Capilano, opening the contest with a converted penalty before crossing over for a try and adding the conversion to make it 10-3. Mike Langley ran in another try for Capilano after Akio Tyler did most of the work with an interception and long run before offloading to Langley. Yanagiya again converted the try and added one more penalty kick to give Capilano a comfortable cushion that held up the rest of the way.
"Today we won with old school heart," Capilano head coach Tom Larisch said in a BCRU release. "We didn't execute like we should have but we won through effort."
This fall Capilano earned a spot in the Canadian Direct
Insurance B.C. Rugby Premier League after dropping out one year ago. Saturday's win finished off the Lower Mainland fall season with the province-wide premier league picking back up in the New Year.
"I am pleased to see the turn around within our side from a year ago," said Larisch. "We are playing with confidence and spirits are high at our club right now and that will carry over to the New Year. We have brought back a culture of winning here and the club has a lot to be proud of."
That same afternoon Capilano's under-19 squad knocked off the Oak Bay Castaway Wanderers 46-5 in the provincial final, scoring seven tries in an emphatic championship victory.
Speedy Nathan Yanagiya, Matt's brother who was fresh off a trip to the Youth Commonwealth Games in September, raced for three tries in the win while captain Jordan Harvey crossed over twice and Neil Courtney and Austin Karius added singles. Fly half Zach Smith kicked four conversions and a penalty for 11 points.
The Capilano under-19s went 6-0 and Lower Mainland regular season play before knocking off Abbotsford RFC 47-8 to earn the right to host the provincial final.
"I could not be any prouder of this team. They continued to get better and better throughout the season," Capilano head coach Ramses Langston said. "This game was really physical and it was close in the beginning, but I think we just wore them down. We continued to put on the pressure and didn't let up."
The championship run continued Sunday as Capilano's under-17 team capped off an undefeated season of their own with a 43-8 win over Cowichan in the provincial final. Scrum half Ryan Lam led the way with three tries while Marshall Fuller, Connor McRae, Evan Coleman and Jacob Cartwright each added singles.
Capilano's under-16 squad also made the provincial final but came up agonizingly short, losing 15-12 to the Bayside Sharks at South Surrey Athletic Park. Bayside raced to a 15-0 lead but Capilano fought back with tries from Nicky Allen and Charlie Macdonald narrowing the gap. The comeback fell short, however, as Bayside held on for the win.
