Vancouver Rowing Club repeats as league champs

Rowers claim second league title in as many years—

By Braden Maccke
Photos: Malin Jordan

Phil Hosie crosses the line for the Rowers, stretching their score to 31 and ultimately
sealing the championship victory.

Coach Sabell chats with his players before the game May 11.

The Vancouver Rowing Club battled back in the second half to overcome the Abbotsford Rugby Football Club 31-27 in a come-from-behind victory to claim their second Okanagan Spring Brewery League One championship in as many years.

PRE-GAME

This reporter had occasion to speak with VRC first division 8th man George Richmond before the provincial final. “Good” Richmond replied to a question about how he was feeling. He ignored further attempts at conversation. The usually encouraging and detail-oriented back-row forward said very little through warm-up. He took seemingly bottomless determination and focus into what would end up being one of the best games of provincial rugby in recent memory.

Karl Mudzamba almost notches an early try.

1ST HALF

As the game opened, the Rowers dominated the ARFC early, pinning the Fraser Valley squad deep in their end for the first 20 minutes of the match. When Abbotsford did gain possession, the Rowers were able to pressure them into kicking and forced turnover ball in the rucks.

Flanker Joshua Schreiber forced a lot of those turnovers while Justin “WoJay” Wong had a couple of early strips to contribute to Abbey's early problems. Wong also stabbed a laser-beam kick from Abbey’s fullback at the 22-metre line – only to gallop back 10 metres to the Abbey 12. The Rowers persistence after the Wong run-back paid off as Duncan James finally crossed the line to put the Rowers ahead 7-0.

Justin Wong strips the ball from Abbey's 19.

Wong.

Wong runs the ball back after stabbing a laser-beam kick
off an errant Abbey clearing attempt.

Schreiber and company wrap up an Abbey player behind the gain-line.

Kevin Gurniak breaks for space early in the first half.

Henry Recinos leaps to make a tackle.

Recinos jumps to block a kick.

Schreiber was an early difference-maker as the young lad skulked along his defensive line, patrolling the field like a dreadought in the North Sea. Whenever opportunities arose, the flanker unleashed the brunt of his offensive artillery on the tourists, shredding any Abbotsford player who dared to slip the lines with the rugger ball. Schreiber out-hustled early and dispatched large-calibre tackles at will. He singlehandedly transformed the early quarter of the game into the Rowers’ favour by helping to repel any advance by the Abbotsford crew.

For the final 15 of the first half, Abbotsford bounced back to control the majority of the play. The Rowers looked a little flat, but they only suffered because the key tackles they were making behind the Abbey gain-line in the first part of the match were being missed in the second part.

Abbotsford used this to their advantage, breaking for long jaunts behind the Rowers’ lines.

Finally, one of their backliners, wearing the auspicious number 19 jersey, catapulted himself through a tackle and broke for space, touching the ball down near the posts to tie the game 7-7.

Shortly thereafter, Duncan James was dump tackled and one of Abbey’s centres was sent off with a yellow card. Despite their numerical superiority, the Rowers only managed to slot one three, an effort from the boot of Henry Recinos which he bounced in off the crossbar.

It looked as though the Rowers would take a 10 -7 lead into the half, but Abbotsford fought hard after their man returned from the sin bin. Their outside centre crossed the line for an unconverted try just before the half-time bell, taking a 12-10 lead into the break.

2ND HALF

Rowers regroup.

Both teams battled back and forth to open the second half, in what proved to be a frenetic fight for turf.

Coach Sabell rallies his troops
during halftime.

Half-time score.

Recinos had an early shot to regain the lead for the Rowing Club, but missed a penalty attempt from about 40 metres. The miss proved to be a six-point swing as Abbotsford rolled down the pitch and slotted a three of their own to stretch their lead to 15-10 early in the second frame.

On the ensuing kick off, Scyler Dumas broke through a tackle and offloaded to a streaking Karl Mudzamba. Mudzamba broke two tackles at the Abbotsford 26-metre mark and then darted for another 20 metres until Abbey’s full-back snared Mudzamba by the Adam’s apple – in what should’ve been a textbook penalty try. The effort slowed Mudzamba just enough to allow Abbotsford’s number thirteen to catch up and bring him down at the two.

Scyler Dumas turns to offload to Mudzamba.

Mudzamba is tackled by his laryngeal prominence.

The Rowers were awarded a penalty on the 5. Although they ran hard, they were ultimately out-rucked and Abbey turned the ball over. But the Rowers didn’t let up and resident giant Sean Dignan was rewarded when he blocked Abbey's clearing kick, which he jumped on for a try. With a Recinos convert, the Rowers regained the lead 17-15.

But Abbotsford stormed right back. The Rowers’ defense and rucking were as good as they had been all year as the team seemed to retain the ball and stop attackers with sheer will. Richmond and Mudzamba both contributed multiple punishing hits, as they fought off obvious fatigue. Flanker Michael Jordan also made some key tackles that killed Abbotsford’s incessant momentum surges.

Then Caleb Hansen intercepted an errant pass just outside his own 22-meter line and out-paced two defenders 77 metres to smudge the green under the posts. Recinos convert. 24-15 Rowers.

Caleb Hansen breaks for a 77-metre intercept try in this, and
the following two panels.

As the midway mark of the second half approached, Schreiber earned a yellow card for a professional foul at the breakdown and was sent off with 21 minutes left in the game. Abbey used the foul to their advantage and scored immediately after the penalty, narrowing the gap to 24-22. But despite some penetrating runs, the Rowers defence rose to the challenge and kept Abbey off the scorecard for the remainder of Schreiber’s rest.


With about 10 minutes to go, Abbey was pressing again before Hansen snagged one of their back-line passes and cleared the ball downfield with his boot. Abbey retreated and regrouped, then attacked immediately, piercing once again deep into Rower territory. As they wildly pressed, still advancing deeper, building on phase after phase, it seemed inevitable the Fraser Valley tourists would take the lead. But Hansen – again – used his prey-like talons to claw another pass from the sky, killing a multi-phase effort as he cleared the ball down field yet again. The successive plays added up to a veritable turning point in the match, snatching late momentum from an aggressor that had been camped out in enemy terrain.

Jon Mergui and George Richmond leap to block a kick in the 2nd half.

The VRC then built on Hansen’s boost to gain their own momentum, bringing the play deep near the opposite goal line. The Rowers applied a lot of pressure to the Abbey lines as Jonathan Mergui, Justin Humphreys, and Ryan Chapman saved VRC possession a multiplicity of times with some savage rucking, beating back counterruck after counterruck from a desperate Abbey side. And the triumvirate’s efforts paid off as Phil Hosie snuck across the line for another Rower five. With the Recinos convert, they stretched their lead to 31-22 with eight minutes to go.

Down by nine, Abbey fought back with some frantic rugby, pinning the VRC deep, yet again, and forcing them to play goal-line defense for five minutes. Unable to hold the line, Abbey finally punched through for an unconverted try, closing the gap to 31-27.

With three minutes left the Rowers kicked off deep, but Abbey thundered back down the pitch and the Rowers were forced to make game-saving tackle after game-saving tackle.

Richmond makes the final tackle of the game.

The moment of victory.

In the dying seconds of the match, James and Richmond combined for two game-savers of the game-savers. James stood up Abbey’s try-scoring number 19 as he broke for the line just outside the Rowers’ 22. And then Richmond toppled Abbey’s fullback as he tried to step through a gap inside the 22.

Schreiber then snatched the ball in the ruck and superlative sub Nolan Laderoute kicked the ball out of bounds to the music of the final whistle.

POST-GAME

During the post-game celebration, standout flanker Jordan asked coach Jeremy Sabell to say a few words. But the coach was speechless for quite possibly the first time in his life. The lads then carried Sabell off the field and into the annals of Rowing Club rugby’s 100-plus-year history.

With the victory, the Rowers were offered promotion to the premiership for the 2013-2014 season. The club accepted the offer and will compete with the province’s best this fall.

Scoring Summary

Tries: James, Dignan, Hansen, Hosie.
Converts: Recinos, 4
Penalty Goals: Recinos, 1

See here for more championship photos.

--With files from Ruck Muck staff.

 

Champs.

VRC Nation.

Wong tosses Richmond an alley-oop.

Mudzamba blocks a clearing kick.

Hosie attacks the Abbey line moments before his try.

VRC Nation.

Sean Dignan blocks a clearing kick.

Dignan dives on his blocked kick to earn the VRC five points.

Dumas with one of his many crucial tackles late in the match.

Late-game action.

Late-game action.

Rowers repeat as champs

First division squad eclipses Abby in title game

Photos: Malin Jordan

Rowers' captain Phil Hosie thanks his teammates after the Club's championship
win over Abbotsford May 11 in the B.C. First Division final at Klahanie Park.

The Vancouver Rowing Club won a hard-fought battle to capture the B.C. First Division Championship from Abbotsford RFC May 11 at Klahanie Park in North Vancouver. The Rowers were down at the half but never quit, battling back in the second to take the cup. Abbotsford had previously downed the Rowers twice during the regular season.

Ruck Muck will post a game recap in the next few days.

Phil Hose and George Richmond hoist coach Jeremy Sabell on their shoulders
after the win.

Sabell.

Hosie accepts the championship trophy
and plaque.

Hosie returns to his team with championship hardware.

Champs.

Rowers burst into final

Firsts down UBC; seconds and thirds lose playoff matches--

By Braden Maccke

The 2012-2013 Thirsty Thirds.

It was a bittersweet day for the Rowing Club May 4 as the first division side catapulted themselves into the Okanagan Spring Brewery League 1 final, while the second and third division teams both lost their playoff semifinal matches to squads they dumped, quite handily, short weeks ago.

3RDS

Second half play.

In a stark contrast from the previous eight months of rugby, the sun shone for the Rowers in their semifinal match away to Abbotsford. And, despite eschewing their Eternal Recurrence of gifting the opposition two tries to start each game in the previous week versus Burnaby, the Rowers revealed that fate is no mortal easily dispatched – as the squad gift-wrapped two tries for Abbotsford to open the game.

Behind 12-0 mere minutes in, the Thirsty Thirds started to play. Tough goal-line tackles by Jamie Overgaard, Travis Sheppard, Spencer Latu, Dave Steer, Robin Mallinder, and Andy Donn kept the Abby side out of the end zone on four different dips inside the Rowers’ five in the first half.

Late in the first, eighth-man Malin Jordan scrambled for a lose ball that bounced off a ruck near the Abbotsford goal line. Jordan picked up the ball and lunged five metres to score under the posts, narrowing the gap to 12-7. But Abbotsford stormed right back with another try to go up 19-7 at the half.

Chris Gaydon kicks off after an Abbotsford try.

As the second half began Diarmuid Walsh broke through a seam at the 22-metre line and scrambled in for an unconverted try to close the game to 19-12. But that was as close as the Rowers got, as Abby added two more tries and a penalty to win 32-12. It was a disappointing day for a resurgent thirds squad that put together some magnificent offensive play and some superb defensive play over the past 12 weeks.

2NDS

Wanting to match up the seconds up with their first division side, the Super Twos game was switched from Brockton to UBC and the Rowers took advantage of the speedy pitch. The squad jumped out of the gate with a characteristically strong start against the Surrey Beavers – a squad they dominated a few weeks earlier 52-22.

Brett Russell races into contact mere seconds before spraining
his ankle on the play.

The Rowers managed to score a try early after working the ball off multiple phases. Fly half Richie Thompson ran well and distributed the ball efficiently all game. The Rowers defense was also good early showing good line speed and defending well at the goal line.

Down a man from a yellow card, and ending up on the wrong side of several penalties, the Rowers allowed the Beavers to pound away at their goal line for the better part of 10 minutes. Finally, the Beavers punched through an equalizer.

The Rowers’ scrums were over-matched technically and underweight to the man, as the Beavers pushed them off the ball several times. Repeated handling errors brought up numerous set pieces, further tiring the VRC pack, as Surrey tenaciously pressed.

Two microphoned TJs patrolled the sidelines, tripling the average number of penalties called. Most of them did not go the Rowers’ way. Playing on the back foot for the better part of 80 minutes, a once-exciting season for the Super Twos ended in a super-disappointing 23-12 loss.

Gayden passes from a ruck.

1STS

The Rowers top squad came to UBC ready for another tough match. The squad’s previous tilt at Wolfson Fields saw them beating the Thunderbirds in the final seconds of a 20-17 nail-biter.

This semifinal matchup provided for less drama, but no shortage of excitement as the Rowers proved early they were the better team. George Richmond earned the coveted Hammer Award for uncompromising tackles as the Rowing Club left no doubts about their birth in the league championship game. Final score: 50-10.

The Rowers face off against Abbotsford RFC for the Okanagan Spring Brewery League One championship final at Klahanie Park at 4 p.m., May 11.

May 11 - Okanagan Spring Brewery League One Final

16:00 1sts vs Abbotsford @ Klahanie Park

Rowers sweep at home

Thirds sink Lakers; firsts and seconds down United--

By Braden Maccke

Ronan Piggot tallies for the Rowers in their 23-10 second division victory over
the United club April 27 at Brockton Oval.

On April 27th the Vancouver Rowing Club proved unbeaten at home, winning all three games at Brockton Oval.

3RDS

The Oval was wet and mucky as the Thirsty Thirds kicked off their playoff quarterfinal match against Burnaby “B.” The thirds were flat out of the gate and gave away an early try. Burnaby then went ahead 10-0 after a penalty goal.

But the Rowers pounded away at the Burnaby squad with strong runs, keeping the ball tight in the forwards, until they found themselves with a scrum on Burnaby’s 5-metre line. Malin Jordan then picked the ball from the set piece and drove towards the Burnaby goal. Shaking one tackler, Jordan popped to flanker Jamie Overgaard who crossed the line for five. Conor Walshe slotted the convert, narrowing the gap to 10-7. The Rowers quickly added another unconverted try to take a 12-10 lead.

The Ubermensch, Paddy O'Gorman, breaks from a scrum in third div action.

With about 12 minutes left in the half, the thirds had a scrum on Burnaby’s 22-metre line near the touchline. After the put-in, Burnaby drove the Rowers back and the ball was bouncing at Jordan’s back foot. Jordan picked the ball and popped it to scrumhalf Chris Gaydon. Gaydon then spiraled a laser pass to Brett Russell, who snagged the delivery with his fingernails. Russell then lateraled to a streaking Diarmuid Walsh who also made a shoestring catch before touching the ball down in the corner of the in-goal area on a play that ran touchline to touchline. After the conversion was missed the Rowers held a 17-10 lead.

For the last 10 minutes of the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half, the game devolved into trench warfare as Burnaby threw every piece of grit and artillery they had at the Rowers’ lines. It was a war of attrition and the Rowers’ D won the game in that 20 minute stretch. Le Rouge et Blanc repelled Burnaby on every run at the line, every pick off the scrum, and every charge forward at the VRC lines. It was the finest display of defence by the Thirsty Thirds all season.

When the Rowers reinforced their lines with fresh recruits 15 minutes into the second half, Burnaby’s battle wounds tore open. Almost immediately, Alec Morrison rambled in for a try from 25 metres out. His run was so full of drama, it can only be described as Shakespearean. After suctioning a pop pass with his palm, Morrison immediately jousted off two would-be tacklers with two successive straight arms, then he galloped over another inside the 22, and carried two more into the end zone with him as he smudged the green for the Rowers’ first points of the second half.

Burnaby never quit on the match, but the Rowing Club was able to add some more points all the same. After scoring 29 unanswered points, the match ended 29-10 for the home side. The win booked a spot in the ill-fated semifinal versus Abbotsford.

2NDS

The Rowing Club’s Super Twos started out well in their home tilt against United RFC. The squad built a strong lead early when speedy Suid-Afrikaanse David Anderson touched the ball down to open the game’s scoring. The Rowers quickly added another try and established positive momentum for the rest of the half.

Liam Hunter breaks in second division action.

But the Twos ran into trouble in the second frame. Frustrated by handling errors, the Rowers lost their discipline. For some uncanny reason, the squad was losing ball after ball in contact. As Rowers backs and forwards entered breakdowns with the ball, they continually exited sans pill. As the frustration built, the home side began to accumulate yellow cards.

A total of five yellows were shown to the Rowers, including two to centre-back Liam Hunter, which added up to a red card and an ejection for the fiery runner. Justin Parlato, Dillon Debono, and substitute flanker Ronan Pigott also earned blonde-coloured dates with the sin bin. Later, Piggot added a fast-paced try, falling an assist short of the “Paddy O’Gorman Hat Trick.”

Another Anderson try and three successful penalties from Liam Carter added up to a 23-10 difference at full time. It was a messy win for the Super Twos.

1STS

The Rowers’ first division side was flawless in a home-field domination of the United club at the tail end of the day. The Rowers ran well, keeping the ball in hand and attacking in pattern very well, much to the delight of a sizeable home crowd and head coach Jeremy Sabell.

Ryan Chapman gets ready to pop to Jon Mergui. Chapman picked up
his first Rowing Club try in the match.

Staple Frenchman Jon Mergui had a solid game in the back row and fellow flanker Joshua Schreiber had a blazing three-try performance. Caleb Hansen and Justin Wong both scored a pair. Captain Phil Hosie, tight-head prop Justin Humphreys, eighth-man George Richmond, and rookie center Sean Hickson also contributed. Henry Recinos had five conversions.

On a day that was all Rowers, it looked for a moment as though the United club might break their goose egg in the second half. But as one of their speedy backs zipped into the Rowers in-goal area for a try, frighteningly-fast Kevin “The Knack” Gurniak rocketed out of nowhere on a cross-cover play to punch the ball out of the would-be try scorer’s mitts before he could touch it down for points.

The Rowers delighted the home crowd with a 60-nil victory.

Duncan James unleashes a lateral versus United while Joshua Schreiber
(left) looks on. Schreiber notched three tries in the game.