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Disappointment as Piggies fall to Westshore

After a thrilling win the week before, the Cowichan Piggies experienced a bit of a letdown in a 27-10 loss to Westshore last Saturday.

After a thrilling win the week before, the Cowichan Piggies experienced a bit of a letdown in a 27-10 loss to Westshore last Saturday.

“I was a bit disappointed with the effort, for sure,” head coach Gord McGeachy said. “We just made too many mistakes, took far too many penalties, and didn’t get going forward on attack at all through the game.”

Cowichan played good rugby for the first 15 or 20 minutes, and got the first try from James Patterson around the five-minute mark.

“We kept up the pressure until about the 20-minute mark and had them penned in their own end,” McGeachy said.

Around 25 minutes, Westshore took advantage of a defensive error and ran the ball down the field to score and tie things up. Not long after that, Westshore was given a yellow card for dangerous play, but the Piggies were unable to capitalize on the man advantage.

“We kind of went to sleep, and they punched in two tries in the last four minutes before the half when it should have been going the other way,” McGeachy said.

Down 15-5 at halftime, the Piggies came out of the gate well in the second half, getting back into the game when the teams were dealt offsetting yellow cards around the 10-minute mark. A minute later, Cowichan was given another yellow, and Westshore had the personnel advantage with two of Cowichan’s key defensive players on the sidelines. Westshore managed to score two more tries in the next few minutes and led 27-5 with about 20 minutes left. Owen Wood scored one more try for Cowichan to cut the lead to 27-10.

A surprising five yellow cards were handed out in the game, with serious consequences for Cowichan on the scoreboard.

“It wasn’t that dirty or aggressive a game, either,” McGeachy said. “It was a pretty steep price to pay with five yellow cards being handed out.”

That wasn’t why Cowichan lost, however.

“We didn’t play well enough to win,” McGeachy said. “We had to do better, and we didn’t.”

The Piggies have a bye this weekend, and will host Westshore’s second team, also in the First Division, on Feb. 20.

 



Kevin Rothbauer

About the Author: Kevin Rothbauer

Kevin Rothbauer is the sports reporter for the Cowichan Valley Citizen
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