Although results have been mixed so far, with a win and a loss early in the season, the Cowichan Rugby Football Club’s foray into over-40 men’s rugby can already be called a success.
Cowichan won their season opener against the Ebb Tide in Victoria, then lost their next match on the road against Nanaimo on Sept. 30, making the trip north despite being low on numbers as they share several players with the Third Division Piggies.
Most importantly, the over-40 side has seen several former Div. 1 players return to the pitch. Just don’t ask team captain Dan Berg who they are.
“I’m new to the club, so I don’t know a lot of them,” laughs Berg, who moved to the Cowichan Valley from Alberta in September.
This is the first time the CRFC has been part of the Pacific Northwest Old Boys League, a 10-team circuit with representation on the Island, Mainland, Interior and Seattle.
“It’s a really fun league,” Berg says. “It’s surprisingly competitive.”
The league features full-on rugby union, with full contact, full scrums and boosted lineouts, the only difference being that the games are played in four 15-minute quarters instead of two 40-minute halves, and participants’ shorts are coloured differently, based on ages, so contact is limited for older players.
The Cowichan over-40s play their next game in White Rock on Oct. 21, with their first home game the following week against Abbotsford.