The Cowichan Piggies were able to make a strong first half hold up, fending off a late charge by United to win their first-round provincial First Division rugby championship match last Saturday.
The Piggies led 24-0 at halftime, then added a couple more tries before United mounted a late attack and scored the last three. Cowichan held on to win 36-26 and advance to the semifinals.
“Just getting up to a score like that at the half, you can get off your bubble a bit,” Cowichan head coach Andrew Wright said.
Cowichan captain Jenner Teufel scored right off the opening kickoff, Louis Gudmundseth showed some veteran savvy to get over the line untouched about 20 minutes later, and Sean Williams scored around the 30-minute mark. Owen Wood converted all three tries and kicked a penalty at the end of the half to give Cowichan a solid 24-point lead at the break.
United scored early in the second half when Cowichan had a man in the sin bin for repeated infringement. James Patterson and Noah Dobson then added to Cowichan’s lead, but United, which represents Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and New Westminster, wasn’t done, scoring and converting three tries to make it interesting.
“The last 10 minutes was all United,” Wright said. “If we had played 80 minutes, it would have been a more lopsided score.”
Once the game was over, the Piggies started to focus on their next opponent.
“As soon as the final whistle went, we were already talking about who we were playing this Saturday,” Wright said. “That’s playoff rugby.”
Next up for the Piggies are the Bayside Sharks from White Rock/South Surrey, who Cowichan will host at Piggie Park this Saturday at 1 p.m.
Bayside won a closely contested match when they visited Cowichan in early October. The Piggies were up 6-0 at half on two penalty goals by Wood, but Bayside scored three in the second half to win 19-6. Wright isn’t expecting a similar result this time around.
“Our side is a lot different now,” the coach said. “We were just finding our game plan and gelling.”
Wright doesn’t think Bayside will be prepared for his current team.
“They’re not going to take us the way they should,” he said. “It’s going to be a great one. We’re looking forward to it.”
Wright praised the way the club came together to support the Piggies in their biggest game of the year last weekend, from the junior program running the concession, to former player Vince Avery coming in to tape the players up beforehand, and Mike Moss and Paul Grantham getting the field ready.
“That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day,” he said.