Comox Valley rugby talent was on the national stage this past weekend at the National Championships Festival in Vancouver.
BC U16 coach Ken Erickson (G.P. Vanier) guided his boys squad to a convincing 50-0 win over Ontario on Sunday. B.C. went undefeated at the five-day tourney, posting three shutouts and conceding only 13 points over their six games.
“We had a really bright group of guys who weren’t afraid to make mistakes,” said Erikson after leading the program to back-to-back titles.
“The development with this squad has been exceptional and they all played for each other. I was impressed with their conduct both on and off the field and this was a hard working group who really put in the hours over the last five weeks.”
B.C. beat B.C.-2 43-7, Newfoundland 75-0, Alberta 12-0, Ontario-2 60-3, Alberta 25-3 and Ontario-1 50-0.
Meanwhile the BC U18 teams with Foster DeWitt (G.P. Vanier) on BC-1 and Braydon Williams on BC-2, finished runners-up in their divisions.
BC-1 was denied a third straight national title by Ontario, who won the Cup Final 29-21 Sunday.
In the U18 Plate Final, the TrueBlue BC U17 side suffered their only loss of the tournament when they fell 26-7 to Ontario.
The loss was just the second of the year for the new program that has been preparing a new crop of players for Nationals since trials back in early June and a run in the U18 BC Rugby Provincial Regional Championships in July.
No.8 Nick Allen scored the lone try for BC in the final as they were unable to produce the high-octane offence that had seen them notch 40-plus point wins through the pool rounds at Nationals.
BC-1 beat Newfoundland 36-10, lost 15-13 to Ontario, beat Alberta 54-10 and 14-0, then lost again to Ontario in the final.
BC-2 beat Saskatchewan 40-0, New Brunswick 40-7, Nova Scotia 45-3 and Newfoundland 20-12 before falling to Ontario in the final.
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