Rugby BCs Dominated by Island Teams Going Into Final Round
The 2009 British Columbia High School Rugby Championships are into the final round, as both the AA and AAA championship games will include a Vancouver Island team.
In the AA provincials, Brentwood College defeated Collingwood Secondary 31-14 in the semi-finals to advance to the championship against Rockridge from West Vancouver. This game will be a matchup of the previous two AA champions, as Brentwood won last year's title and Rockridge in 2007, defeating none other than Brentwood in the championship final.
In other AA action, following their defeat in Wednesday's quarter-finals, Esquimalt bounced back on Thursday with a 24-10 win over Vancouver Island opponent Ladysmith. Esquimalt moves to play for 5th place against Aldergrove while Ladysmith will fight for 7th against Kalamalka. After defeats in their first two provincial games, Reynolds defeated Sir Charles Tupper 25-5 and will face Clarence Fulton for 13th.
In the AAA division, it will be an all-Island final following victories by both Victoria's St. Michael's and Mill Bay's Shawnigan Lake in Thursday's semi-finals. SMU held off second ranked St. George's 15-14 to advance through, while first ranked Shawnigan easily took down Earl Marriott 38-14. Both teams aren't strangers to playing in the provincial championship game, as Shawnigan lost last year's final to Carson Graham, while SMU won the 2007 championship over St. George's. This game will also be a re-match of last year's semi-finals as Shawnigan narrowly defeated St. Michael’s 15-8 en route to finishing second.
In other action in the AAA tier, following a loss to St. George's in the quarter-finals, Oak Bay lost by a close 22-18 score to a tough Robert Bateman team. The Bays will now move on to take on Courtney’s G.P Vanier in the 7th place game after Vanier lost their third round matchup 46-7 to Carson Graham.
Stayed tuned to VSO as we will have up to date results of the final rounds on Saturday.
