The Port Alberni Black Sheep came away from Victoria with the Island championship after a nailbiter of a B.C. Rugby Union Cowichan Cup final against Velox Valhallians on Saturday.
The Black Sheep and Velox traded tries in the first half, which ended 20–13 in favour of Port Alberni.
“We scored right before the end of the half and that was a bit of a surge,” head coach Jas Purewal said. “The first half was pretty evenly scored. They were sloppy a bit early but after that it got really physical. The guys were really tuned in. It was exciting, actually.
“In the second half we started with a bang. We ended up pulling ahead 27–17.”
But Velox made some key substitutions, bringing in four big players—including former Black Sheep Ryan Waldriff.
“He was critical; he basically got them going,” Purewal said. “He scored a try and we barely stuffed him on another one.”
Velox scored three straight tries to come within five points of the Black Sheep. Port Alberni took a yellow card on the offence with seven minutes left, deep in the Velox end, which turned out to be a key play. “We just mishandled it, then we tried to run the ball rather than playing it safe and kicking it out,” Purewal said.
With a Velox scrum on the sidelines deep in Sheep territory as time ran out, the Valhallians pushed over the goal line to tie the game 30–30.
“Thank God the guy missed the conversion,” Purewal said.
That thrust the game into extra time—two, 10-minute periods followed by sudden death if needed.
The Black Sheep scored 21 unanswered points in the first 10 minutes to win convincingly, 51–30.
“In extra time it was no contest,” Purewal said. It was also a sign of how well conditioned the Black Sheep are this year.
“When you’re getting to playing that many minutes of rugby, it really shows who’s fit.”
Anthony Selva (one try) and Ty Shannon (two tries) were named “men of the match”, which Purewal said was only fitting. “You know it’s a real solid day when your top players have a quality day,” he said.
“Cody McClary was unbelievable; he was just so physical. Ryan Turner was brilliant at inside centre,” he added.
Neil Thurley was nine-for-nine with conversions and penalty kicks. Other tries came from McClary, Riley Savard and Brennan Tourangeau.
The Black Sheep will host Seattle Saracens on Saturday, May 2 in the provincial championship. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at the Black Sheep Rugby Club at the top of Argyle Street.
SCRUM NOTES…The Black Sheep last played Seattle about five years ago, also in a B.C. championship…Coach Purewal on former Sheep Ryan Waldriff: “It was good that he had a good day, but good that it wasn’t that good.”
editor@albernivalleynews.com
Twitter.com/AlberniNews
