CUP FINAL RUBGY AT ITS BEST

CUP FINAL RUBGY AT ITS BEST

by | Dec 12, 2011 | BCRU / VIRU News, Game Reports, Men's News

A bright sunny winter Sunday at Cumberland’s Village Park provided the perfect setting for a titanic clash between the 10-0 Comox Valley Kickers and the 9-2 Velox-Valhallians as they took the field to play the final of the Fall Vancouver Island Div. 3 final. The biggest crowd of the year; intense committed rugby by both sides; referees and touch-judges brought in especially from Victoria with miked headsets – the first ever seen in the Comox Valley, all helped create an atmosphere of cup final rugby. And, as befitting such a momentous occasion, the appreciative crowd enjoyed a hard-fought, well-contested match that saw the visitors from Victoria win 24-15 and retain the impressive looking trophy they had won last season. The home team played a fine, spirited game of rugby spinning the ball wide to their backs at every occasion but, as the game wore on the more experienced visiting team, boasting seven players over the age of thirty seven, one of whom, forty-eight year old Canadian international prop Kevin Wirachowski earned seventeen caps playing for his country from 1992-2003, proved decisive. It was this experience that saw the Valhallians eventually gain the ascendency in the second-half to secure the victory after the sides had played to a 10-10 half time draw. “It was a fantastic game of rugby between two teams that like to play open, running rugby,” commented Velox captain Todd Cunningham after the game. “In the end however, it ended being a defensive struggle with our experience being the decisive factor. Full marks to the Kickers, they gave as good as they got and it was a...