The Cowichan Piggies hadn’t been able to use their own pitch much in recent weeks, as the field was either frozen or flooded. The First Division men’s rugby team did get to train in the Shawnigan Lake School gym, although that wasn’t a perfect solution either, and it showed as they opened the 2017 portion of the season with a 45-29 loss to the Nanaimo Hornets last Saturday.
“Our lack of field training came into play with some of our defensive systems, because of the tightness in the gym,” head coach Andrew Wright explained.
Nanaimo scored the first three tries on Saturday, converting two. Robin Gusse responded for the Piggies, pulling off the end of a lineout to score. Nanaimo scored again, and Gusse added another try almost identical to his first, and the Hornets were up 24-10 at halftime.
Owen Wood got things going for the Piggies in the second half, finishing off a play where the ball went through all the Cowichan backs to score in the corner. Unfortunately, the Hornets scored three more before Wood added his second of the game. Nanaimo scored again after Wood’s second, and Payton Eagar capped things off with another try for Cowichan. Jenner Teufel converted Cowichan’s last two tries.
The loss was not completely in vain as the Piggies earned a bonus point in the standings for scoring four tries.
“We didn’t come out empty-handed,” Wright noted.
Training sessions have been promising lately, even if the Piggies haven’t been able to use their own field.
“The numbers we’ve had for training have been phenomenal. We’re getting more guys, new guys.”
The Piggies will head north this Saturday to play the Nanaimo second team.
