They were a confident bunch, these championship winning Collingwood Cavaliers.
That much was evident even when their head coach Dave Speirs had to leave town right before a crucial game during the senior boys AA provincial rugby championships last week.
Speirs watched his team warm up for their semifinal match against Chilliwack’s G.W. Graham Grizzlies, but just before kickoff he said a few last words to his troops and then promptly left the field.
“I know we’re going to win, guys” he told the team. “I’ll see you tomorrow when we’re going to the final.’”
He was right. Speirs had a pretty good excuse for why he had to leave Abbotsford’s Rotary Stadium – he needed to make it back to Vancouver to be inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame alongside his teammates on Canada’s 1991 national men’s rugby team. Meanwhile back in Abbotsford, the Cavaliers – guided by the more-than-qualified assistant coach duo of Tom Larisch and Liam Murray – proved their head coach right by dismantling the Grizzlies 50-5 to book a spot in the final against their longtime rivals from Brentwood College.
Two days later Speirs was back on the field, basking in his Hall of Fame glow, to watch a high-flying final that ended with Collingwood winning 45-31 to claim their first provincial AA title since 2013.
The game started with an offensive explosion as Collingwood quickly went up 10-0 with flyhalf Duncan Bustos setting up a Cam Bruk try and then scoring one for himself. Brentwood, however, stormed right back to take a 12-10 lead.
“It was a huge rollercoaster,” said Speirs. “If you were neutral I’m sure it was incredibly entertaining. But for us going up 10-0 and then suddenly going down 12-10, it was a bit of a shock. We were kind of being outplayed.”
Collingwood then got a big boost from Ethan Lucke who turned a dangerous Brentwood rush into seven points the other way by intercepting a pass and sprinting the length of the field.
“We were in real trouble,” said Speirs. “It was literally a three-on-one and he basically made the choice to gamble. And considering what was happening it was a wise choice because he just stepped in front of the guy and picked it off.”
It was the first of two tries that Lucke would score in the game by stealing passes and taking it the distance. The blazing Grade 12 winger is known for plays like this – he did the same thing in a win over Brentwood during a Stadium Series game played earlier this season.
“He is the absolute king of the intercept try,” said Speirs. “He’s blistering fast. … He just reads the play really well.”
Brentwood battled back again to make it 19-17 but Collingwood got an important try from Joey Ficocelli on the last play before halftime to make it 24-19. The high-octane first half was fueled by two teams with potent attacks, said Speirs.
“Both teams were phenomenal going forward. At times our defence was poor, but they were so athletic and strong that if they got their forwards punching forward then it was hard to hold them back. When they had the ball they were great, and when we had the ball we were great. … Their concept and our concept was pretty much the same: smash it forward, suck people in and then spin it wide.”
The second half, however, belonged to the Cavaliers, who showed their outstanding depth and versatility by making four tactical substitutions to bring fresh legs into the game. Bruk scored his second try of the game followed by scores from Max Moyes and Linus Hartner to give Collingwood a commanding 45-19 lead. Including the try scored just before halftime, the Cavaliers scored 28 unanswered points in less than 20 minutes of play to blow the game wide open.
“We had about 10 minutes where we had complete control of the ball. We scored at the 10-minute mark of the second half, and then we scored two more tries really quickly because they were kicking off to us and we just kept the ball away from them,” said Speirs, adding that the mid-game substitutions played huge rolls in the second-half surge.
“We just had so much strength. We brought four tactical subs in at halftime of this game – we had that much depth. We knew we were going to bring these guys in. … That was a key part of that 28-0 run. We had basically introduced four fresh kids right at the end of the first half and beginning of the second.”
Brentwood didn’t go quietly though, responding with two late tries to make things tense for the Cavaliers.
“They made a late comeback just to cause all the coaches minor heart attacks,” said Speirs with a laugh. “(Brentwood has) one of the most athletic packs I’ve ever seen in high school rugby, period. They’re big and strong. When they were going forward they were just really hard to handle. They also had a very good backline. … It wasn’t a big surprise that when they had the ball, they were good. But we had enough solid defence at key times to win the game.”
Time ran out on Brentwood, however, and the Cavaliers were crowned champions again.
Team captain Matt Frost, who powered the front row along with Max Moyes and Jack Allen, was named to the tournament’s Commissioner’s XV all-star team. Speirs also credited Bustos with orchestrating the Collingwood attack throughout the game, and Bruk for stepping up in to play the game of his life in the final.
“He basically made the decision that he was going to tackle anything that came his way,” Speirs said of Bruk. “He scored two tries, tackled like a fiend – he had a great day.”
Collingwood had claimed two silvers and two bronze since their last championship win in 2013.
“We’ve had good teams, but this team probably had more depth than any team we’ve had,” said Speirs. The Cavaliers were undefeated against B.C. competition this season, their only loss coming against a touring team from Australia. “We were trying a new thing of focussing on just trying to be the best we could be instead of the traditional ‘let’s win the Hatch Shield, the Lower Mainland and the BC’s.’ But obviously we did all three of those things, so it worked out.”
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Elsewhere at provincials a pair of North Shore schools just missed the podium in top competitions. At the elite AAAA level Carson Graham finished fourth, losing 26-25 against St. Georges in the consolation final. Carson’s Austin James earned a spot on the Commissioner’s XV team. At the AAA Tier 1 level West Vancouver came into the tournament as the sixth seed but bumped up to fourth, losing 45-21 against Earl Marriott in the bronze medal game with Benjamin Corbett earning the all-star nod.
Rockridge also took part in the AA Tier 1 tournament, finishing fifth with Daniel Jacobs getting the Commissioner’s XV spot, while Sutherland placed fourth in AA Tier 2 led by all-star Ari Stan.
At the AAA Tier 2 level Handsworth and Sentinel finished back-to-back in sixth and seventh, with Joey Sadain and Eric Metcalfe earning Commissioner’s XV spots.
