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 The day was best summed up by Nick (the Snowcaps Captain) as “A perfect day for rugby….COLD, WET and MISERABLE”. Yes, it was all of the above which made it even better
for those smart enough to know…….. it’s still the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon!! The Snowcaps ran out winners with a scoreline of 5 tries to our 1. Our try coming from Brian (Houle), who found himself in the right place at the right time – standing (yes, standing) on the goalline (yes, goalline), being handed the ball (yes, handed) and touching the post. Wow, how does he do it? Overall it was an excellent game of rugby. We didn’t have a full team, so we had to borrow a few players from the ‘Caps. Not a nice thing to admit for a home game. Come on fellow Evergreens, we need better numbers, at the very least for home games!! The final score does not reflect that the Evergreens had most of the possession but we could not make the final breakthrough and were caught by the ‘Caps breakaways. Thanks to Dave and the Rev from Legends for showing. Zak as you’re now a regular, we’ll just have to stop singling you out for praise and start dumping on you just like the rest of the guys. Kudos to Blair and try scorer Brian for making it over from the Sunshine Coast. JR we miss ya – IT’S PRETTY QUIET WITHOUT YOU!! Bill put on quite the amazing post-game meal. Roast beef no less!! There was a terrific buzz in the clubhouse and we had more visitors show up to celebrate Jack Stokes 60th birthday. A full house no less! Jack won Man of the Match nomination from the Evergreens and Man of the Match nomination from the Snowcaps (FIX!!!). Well, he did actually play for both sides during the game. As is customary, he had to compete in a Boat Race…..this time with himself!! Double fisting appears to come naturally to him and he managed quite well to simultaneously pound back two beers. Well done Jack and a Happy 60th Birthday from all!! By the way, congratulations also to our newest Evergreen, Sonny. He welcomed a bouncing baby daughter into the world just last week. Yes, he was looking a little red-eyed on Sunday!! Congratulations to you and your family from all of us!! This week-end coming up we are combining with the Legends at Connaught Park playing the Abbotsford Originals. So come on out players and let’s have some more fun in the muck!! Match Report Sunday Sept 23rd
Evergreens v Abbotsford Originals The sun was shining and the rugby stars were shining at Brockton Rugby Oval, Vancouver for the Evergreens v Abbotsford Originals over 40s rugby game on Sunday. As the final score of 9-5 indicates, it was a wide open game full of exciting breaks and yes, a total of 14 tries. Wow!! Our friends from Abbotsford made the long journey in without a full compliment of players so, we gave them Gary, Jack and Barry for the first half and Bill, Ronnie and Mike for the second half. Both teams lined up at 14 a side. Below is our starting line up (players in brackets joined us for the second half).
10. Steve 11. Sonny 12. Tommy 13 Brett 14 Ronnie/Mike 15. Donnie Referee: John McGillivray. It was a very lively clean game with lots of great running & solid tackling by both sides. Hats off to Abbotsford for putting on a great show despite missing a full compliment of players. They played a very competitive and good clean game of rugby!! Here are the key points of the afternoon’s fun: · Big WELCOME BACK to Ian Anderson. We’ve missed you big man!! And what a way to make your comeback, putting in an outstanding performance at lock, topped off with a terrific try!! Great game ya big Scottish lug!! · Point #2. Never trust the English!! Before the game Jack Stokes mumbles, “Oh, I’m so unfit, will be lucky to get though 5 minutes at best”. Then, slutting for the Originals, he tears up the field to score 2 tries against his Evergreens bros!! Oh yeah, poor Jack!! Then there’s Steve Pulford, same shite “Oh, I’m so unfit. Just got back from spending several weeks back in England. I’ll barely be able to hang in”. Oh yeah? What does Steve do? Has a blistering day at stand-off and runs in 5, yes 5 tries. Thankfully he was on our side, so all is forgiven Steve. Pommies, I tell ya. Can’t believe a word they say!! · Big thanks to the Legends; Barry, Jim, Dave and Steve as well as Zack from the former ESG (Zach, we’re now calling you a regular, not guest player). Always a welcome sight on game day. Barry provided us with his customary knock-on with the tryline inches away. Oche eye Barrae!! Dave put in a ton of work in the loose and big Jim was on fire at #8, great work you guys!! Oh and yes, Pulford and those 5 tries. Alright, alright!! Well done chaps, without you we would have been hard pressed for numbers. Of course, not forgetting Jack from Snowcaps. For the record, Jack played with us on the second half but we opted to not pass to him for his indiscretions in the first. Heh, heh! · Let’s not overlook our regulars who always lead by example. Well done Brett, who only scored 3 tries (shame on you!!), Mark, Jiff, Garry, Ronnie, Bill, Mike, Sonny, Donnie and John (B). Brett was in great form with each of his tries coming from long penetrating runs. Mark, Jiff and Ian (M) hustled throughout, Donnie was, as ever, a model of consistency at full back, even making his trademark ankle tackle late in the game. John (B) put in a very productive day in his unfamiliar position of scrum half. Great job John!! Ronnie, followed Jack Stokes bad example and ran in a try against his Bros. Whaaaaaat was he thinking? Garry gave 100% for both sides, so does that mean he gave 200%? Bill, ever the keener, put in a solid effort on the field (and bigger effort off it- more later). Sonny continued his rapid progress on the wing and is flourishing into a fine rugby player!! And Mike, always the dark horse, put in a great half with the Originals at wing forward!! · And finally, post game. Bill put on an outstanding show with not just a feed, but a feast!! Awesome job Bill!! Dick-of-the-day went to Ronnie (or course!!). All year long we scream at him to just ‘gun it” and then when he does,its against his own team!! Man of the Match for Evergreens went to Steve Pulford. You know the guy who was whining before the game that he didn’t feel up to it!! Man of the Match for Abbotsford went to our own Mike, who put in an outstanding performance at wing forward. What a great day of rugby!!
As usual the Legends greeted us to Connaught Park with a stacked team! Yup! they were up for playing the Evergreens, for sure!! After a sting of e-mails earlier in the week we had the pleasant surprise of not only having a full team, but also a few replacements as well. Our starting 15 was 1. Ian 2. Zack 3. Dick 4. Jiff 5. Blair 6. Dwayne 7. Brian 8. Paddy 9. JR 10. Brett 11. Ronnie 12. Tommy 13. John 14. Sonny and 15. Stu. Replacements: Gary, Hal & Bill. From the get-go we got stuck in and put the Legends under pressure. Of course they tried to get the ball out to their star studded back line but our forwards put them on the back-foot and our backs did a good job on defence. However, we got caught a few times on breakaways and were punished by conceding 4 tries, at least 2 of which may have been prevented by making early tackles. But, that being said, we had plenty of our own ammunition. In the first half Paddy stretched his 15ft arm over the line for our opening try after great pressure from our forwards. That was followed by the try of the game coming from John Napier's brilliant fingertip catch in midfield (from a long stretch pass from inside centre), breaking two tackles taking the ball 35 yards to cross the try-line for a BEAUTY!! In the second half Brett barged over for a late try (yeah, yeah, he has to score a try - every game!!) which pulled us back to within 1. However with time running out we were pipped by a final score of 4-3. In all reality, at the very least a 4-4 tie would have been a fair result, and had we been making better tackles on some of their breakaways, we could have come out 3-2 winners. But, we played brilliantly and everybody gave it their best. Well done guys!! Special mention goes to the following:
But it was the fat kid who eats too much sugar who made the most noise. JR - FOOK YOOOOOOOOUUUUUU!! YEAH BABY. LOVE YOU ALL - YOU ROCK - I ROCK - WE ALL ROCK. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERGREENS FOREVER. YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! ONCE MORE. YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH YYYYYYYEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS TO JR, WE WON THE POST-GAME CLEEBRATION YYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH BAAAAAAABBBBBBBY Ada Boy JR!! |
AuthorEvergreens Archives
February 2023
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