Vikes claim Island rugby supremacy over C.W.
Rugby observers have compared Crosby Stewart with fellow Oak Bay High and University of Victoria Vikes rugby product Phil Mack. That’s saying something, considering the undersized, but tenacious Mack showed well for Canada at the 2015 World Cup and will be integral this year in sevens as Canada attempts to qualify for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
“The first person to mention the similarity was [former Oak Bay coach] Gary Johnston,” said the five-foot-eight, 170-pound Stewart. Johnston was, perhaps, onto something. Stewart scored all three UVic tries at Wallace Field on Saturday, amid howling and wet weather, as the defending champion Vikes defeated the Castaway Wanderers 24-5 in the 2015 Barnard Cup final for Island Premier supremacy.
The match-up was between two programs which contributed heavily in terms of alumni to the Canadian roster at the 2015 World Cup.
“The conditions were really bad — rain, wind and cold,” Stewart said.
The biggest stars on this difficult day were Stewart and former junior national team player Fergus Hall of the Vikes, the third-year fullback and engineering major, who kicked three penalty goals amid the strident cross winds.
Stewart deflected credit to his UVic teammates.
“If a winger can score wide from the outside, it shows that everyone else was doing their jobs, by sucking the opposition in and creating the overlap that allows those kinds of tries to be scored,” said the third-year sciences major.
The other side of the ball was impressive, also, as the Vikes allowed only a late try by CW’s Anton Ngogo.
“We dug down deep defensively,” UVic coach Doug Tate said.
The Barnard Cup has been contested since 1911. This was UVic’s 12th championship and third consecutive Cup final appearance after a 35-17 victory over CW last year and 26-23 loss to 55-time champion JBAA in 2013.
UVic finished undefeated at 10-0 and CW 5-5 in the Island portion of the Premiership season. The top three Island clubs — UVic, CW and JBAA (3-5) — have advanced to the 2016 B.C. Premiership season beginning next month. The Westshore Velox Valhallians (0-8) will play in the B.C. Division 1.
It was a varsity sweep as the UBC Thunderbirds defeated Burnaby Lake 20-0 in the Mainland Cup Premier final.
The Port Alberni Black Sheep blanked the Cowichan Green Piggies 13-0 in the Times Cup final, for Island Division 1 supremacy, at Herd Road in Duncan on Saturday.
RUGBY NOTES: It was a disappointing opening tournament for Mack and the Langford-based Canadian men’s sevens team in a season that will culminate with the 2016 Rio Olympic qualifier in Monaco in June. The Canadians finished 2-4 in the Dubai Sevens. Canada began the final day on Saturday with a 24-14 loss to Wales, followed by a 31-14 victory over Portugal thanks to three tries by Vikes-grad Sean Duke and a 19-17 win over Japan in the Shield final for 13th place. “This is an incredibly competitive arena. Our performances this weekend were not good enough,” Canadian coach Ian Middleton of Victoria said in a statement.