CASTAWAY WANDERERS 45

UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA 37

Saturday afternoon at Windsor Park was the antidote for what ails Canadian rugby. There has been much discussion lately about the state of the game, especially with the national team teetering on the brink of missing the World Cup in 2019 for the first time.

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But what is best about the game, at least at club level, was on ample display as the host Castaway Wanderers outpaced the University of Victoria Vikes 45-37 in the opening round of the B.C. Premier playoffs with hundreds of fans lining the pitch.

“It was a big track meet,” said CW captain Nate Stewart, the latest in a line of CW stalwarts that have included World Cup players Ciaran Hearn, Ray Barkwill, Jake Ilnicki, Hubert Buydens, Jebb Sinclair and Nanyak Dala.

“We tried to execute 80 minutes of continuous pressure. We have the best attack in the league and ran straight at them.”

The action was fast and ferocious.

“We have guys who can handle the ball and so does CW,” said UVic coach Doug Tate, whose own roster of Vikes alumni includes World Cup players Nathan Hirayama, Phil Mack, Brett Buekeboom, Andrew Tiedemann and Phil and Jamie Mackenzie.

“But our defence was not good enough today. You can’t give up six tries and expect to win.”

There are so many connections between CW and the Vikes that it’s become a kind of rugby family feud. Five graduated Vikes started for CW on Saturday. Going the other way, several players from the CW U-18 program were on the UVic roster.

This two-way pipelines goes back a long way as players like Ilnicki and Tiedemann played for both UVic and CW. So did CW coach Scott Manning. “It adds to the emotion,” said Manning.

“I don’t think I’ve been involved in a game with so many lead changes. It was great for the fans, but it was a lot of tension for me.”

The game ended UVic’s winning streak at eight games and was the 100th and final varsity fixture for Vikes captain James Pitblado. Already, the former Canada U-20 player, who represented the country twice in Junior World Cups, is being recruited by B.C. Premiership clubs. That includes CW, which would add to its circular roster with the Vikes.

It’s the nature of university teams that players graduate and move on, Tate said.

B.C. Premiership fourth-seed CW won the Barnard Cup as the top-placing Island team in the regular season at 13-7, although fifth-seed UVic (11-9) won both regular-season meetings between the clubs.

Sixth-seed James Bay (10-10) lost 52-17 away to third-seed Burnaby Lake (13-7) in another playoff quarter-final Saturday.

The UBC Thunderbirds and UBCOB Ravens finished the regular season 17-3 and both earned first-round byes with the three-time defending Premier-champion Thunderbirds hosting CW in the semifinals next Saturday and Burnaby Lake taking on the Ravens.

The championship game, for the Rounsefell Cup, is May 5.

“UBC is the most polished program in the province right now and we have to play our best and be prepared,” said Manning.

Ninth-place Westshore (6-14) and 11th-place Nanaimo (3-17) finished out of the Premiership playoffs.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com