It was a tough day Wednesday for the three Peninsula senior boys rugby sides at BC High School Rugby Championships in Abbotsford.
All three teams – Earl Marriott and Semiahmoo in the AAA tournament and the Southridge Storm in the AA event – lost their Day 2 matchups.
The Earl Marriott Mariners lost their quarter-final tilt 17-10 to their Vancouver rival St. George’s Saints - whom the Mariners beat in quarter-finals last year – to fall from contention, while the Semiahmoo
Totems, who lost their first-round match to St. George’s, fell in their first consolation-round game, 24-17 to Cowichan.
Earl Marriott lost their second game in the row Saturday, 17-15 to Oak Bay, to finish the tournament in sixth. Semiahmoo ended the tournament 15th, winning their final game 39-16 over Victoria’s Claremont Secondary.
In the AA tournament, the 10th-seeded Southridge Storm lost in quarterfinals Wednesday, 49-5 to No. 2-ranked Brentwood College. Southridge ended up eighth overall after a 38-10 loss to Mulgrave Saturday afternoon.
Marriott’s loss to St. George’s was a tough one to swallow, head coach Adam Roberts said, considering how close the game was.
“We knew going in exactly what was coming. We knew it was going to be a battle, and it was,” he said.
Neither team had many great scoring chances in the game, but the difference, Roberts said, was the Saints made the most of their limited opportunities, while the Mariners didn’t.
“They capitalized on our mistakes, that’s all it was. We didn’t give them much, but what we did give them, they took advantage of.”
The Mariners rebounded the following day with a 38-0 consolation-round drubbing of Lord Byng Secondary.
Semiahmoo, meanwhile, rang up against a talented St. George’s side in the first round, which put a snag in the team’s plans to make it into the tournament’s top four.
“My goal was to make it to the stadium (for semifinals),” said coach Tom Wilson. “But St. George’s is a very well organized, very good team, and we’re just not there right now.”
The Totems were also hampered by injuries. Scrumhalf Alex Klassen was out with a broken hand – an injury Wilson said affected everyone.
“Alex is our top player, he’s our link between the back line and the scrum. If we had him in the lineup, we probably beat Cowichan by three tries,” Wilson said.
Wilson did heap praise on a handful of his players who, due to a number of injuries, were forced to play out of position. Logan Mackie, for example, filled in for Klassen at scrumhalf, a week after filling in for another player at hooker.
“He’s played four positions in the last couple weeks,” Wilson said.
“It was great of Logan to step in like he did, but it’s tough to do.”
Shawnigan Lake won the AAA title, while he AA banner was won by Brentwood College.