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Caps get in gear
Jan-Christian Sorensen jsorensen@nsnews.com
COMPOSURE. It's the one quality that Cap RFC Curtis Lumber premier team coach Ben Calitz believes his team has in spades.
And it's the one factor he thinks might give them an edge in this Saturday's BCRU quarter-final playoff tilt at Klahanie between the Caps and the UVic Vikes.
Not that Calitz is counting his opposition out by any means, however.
"They're young, fast, enthusiastic and they have a lot of talent," says Calitz. "Overall, our strength is good, but if we start to throw it around too much they'll (capitalize) on every mistake we make. We have to keep it tight.
"They love to spin the ball and play it wide. They love long passes and running hard and fast. They'll try to run it as much as possible on us."
The two teams were scheduled to meet last weekend for a makeup game, but the Vikes decided not to make the trip - a number of their players were busy writing exams - and ended up defaulting the game to the hometown side.
The visiting side will still be short a few players - and one coach - when it rolls into town on the weekend. Former Cap Akio Tyler is off with Uvic boss Doug Tate at the Singapore World Sevens tournament, while another former Cap player, Tom Lariche, has also been scratched from the starting roster.
The Caps finished second in the BCRU premier division this season with a 14-3-1 record, good for 65 points. The defending champion Castaway-Wanderers from the Island grabbed first with a 15-3-0 record and 68 points. The Vikes finished third with 54 points (11-5-2) while James Bay took the fourth and final playoff berth with a 47-point, 9-9-0 overall record during the season.
The Caps will entertain the Vikes at 3 p.m., while the Wanderers host James Bay at Windsor Park in Victoria for a 3 p.m. game.
The Vikes and Caps met only once this season, on Nov. 4, when the Caps staged a 26-15 win.
"We played very well against them," says Calitz. "I think it was one of the best games we played this year."
The Caps will likely still be without the services of kicker Niko Potton - who went down with a knee injury a few weeks back - but stand-in John Granander has been doing an admirable job in his absence.
"There's a small chance that (Niko) might show at the end of the game, but that's a slim chance," says Calitz. "Johnny Granander has been doing an excellent job. I think he's one of the most talented players in the league. He's young and small but he's got a lot of skill."
Calitz says that his players are primed and ready to meet the Vikes and chomping at the bit after a two-week layover.
"We're on top of our mental game. Composure is the right word to describe our season this year. Our guys kept their cool and produced the goods. It's a team effort. Everybody wants to do well for the guy next to him."
In other action on the final weekend of BCRU regular season play, the Vancouver Meralomas topped James Bay 27-19 as Tim Oldfield, Chris Banks, Jason Hall and Sebastian Maridona all scored tries and Kevin Neilson kicked a pair of converts and a penalty. Bobby Ross, Marco DiGirolamo and Brian Ramsay scored for James Bay and Ross added a pair of conversions.
In the only other scheduled make-up game, the Bayside Sharks defeated the UBCOB Ravens 25-21 as Jason Blaak, Tim Fox and Anthony LaCart bit for the Sharks and Chris Veslemes had a pair of converts and a pair of penalties. Gareth Adams and Jason Hartley scored tries for the Birds, while John Graf converted once.
In other playoff action at Klahanie on the weekend, the local first division side staged a 48-12 over Surrey in BCRU quarter-final action. The firsts now advance to play Seattle this weekend at Klahanie in a semi-final tilt. The second division club side routed Seattle 78-10 in Vancouver Rugby Union semi-final action and will now host the Kats this weekend for the league championship final. The club's third division side didn't fare as well, however, falling 20-7 to the UCC Kamloops side in the VRU semi-final matchup. Kamloops now plays Burnaby Lake this weekend at Klahanie for the VRU championship third-division crown.
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