Game Summaries

Velox Valhallians vs Castaway Wanderers

- written by John Lyall

The Velox Valhallians opened the Canadian Direct Premier League in resounding fashion comprehensively defeating the Castaway Wanderers 37 -7. We open the season with arguably the toughest schedule in the province, facing the top two teams from the mainland and island (according to fall standings) in the first four weeks. 

 The team had a good week of training, culminating with a crisp captain?s run on Friday night. Eightman Murray Smith set the tone of the game, catching the opening kickoff and immediately brought the hurt onto the CW pack. Quick ruck ball from the forwards saw Winston being able to take the ball going forward, a very dangerous combination for opposing teams to defend. This resulted in Stanley scoring the first of his hat trick of tries five minutes into the game. 

We then saw our first test as referee Phil Smith yellow carded openside Mark Lawson for a professional foul.  It seems Phil has been reading the internet, in which a recent poll of refs awarded Captain Canada the ?hardest player to ref in BC?. The team responded by scoring a try by Evan Machin, down one man.

 The first half saw the forwards, in particular Murray and new lock Oliver Atkinson consistently break the gain line, allowing our backs ample room to run. As the score mounted, manager Jonboy mentioned that we just notched up a bonus point with four tries about twenty minutes in. The first half ended with score being Velox 32, CW 0. 

The second half was a much tighter affair, our team recognizing the talent that CW possesses, were determined to not let them back into the game.  Tightening the game to ensure the five point victory resulted in a final score of Velox 37, CW 7.   

 An excellent day for the club, great vocal support from a large home field crowd.  Supporters commented that players 1 through 15 played well. Forwards defended very tenaciously, and set play such as driving lineouts were excellent. The backs showed that if given even an inch of space, they are very dangerous. Spotlighted in the program, Junior and Duck both had excellent games, probably their best showing of the year. The night?s Luau celebration was an excellent and debaucherous ending to the day.

Next week, the 1st and Premier teams travel to McDonald Park to take on the vaunted Bays. James Bay prem?s lost their first game by a point to the Caps, so will be very hungry at home. We look forward to a huge fan base traveling across the city, cheering our teams forward. 
 

B's vs Oak Bay

- written by Meic the Welshman

This game everyone knew would be a huge up front battle. Oak Bay tend to have a very heavy pack and this time they didn't surprise us. Their game plan: big guys crashing up taking out our tacklers then mauling towards the try line.

This ploy worked on several occasions as their score tally mounted up. A lead that continued to grow - the score didn't reflect the heart and passion that Velox threw into their game pattern. Relentless pressure was sure to pay off for Oak Bay. Try after try through their larger, heavier forwards. The quickness of our guys stumbled them on several occasions - with the best of the rest to come in following weeks we have to be able to contain the ball against larger packs. 

Superb big hits from the start by Borak, Welshman, Nicko, Kevan, Todd, no.9 Scottie and Dave the prop gave some of their playmakers a few things to think about. Velox never gave up with a superb break through both centres by Borak fed to Welshy who cleverly chipped towards the try line with Dan blasting through to pick up and score. This just proved with a forward driving pack and good clean ball huge positives can be achieved.

The Beavers this season have a huge squad and we now have to take all in and apply our quick plays into this coming weeks game vs James Bay. Final score was 45-5.

Man of the Match - Billy Whizz (Stu winger). Hardest working man Dave (Prop) who was like a whippet out on the field. Supporters awesome for both teams and we need the same this coming week. Great party afterwards!!!!


Other Results

The women won their season opener in a mud bowl game at UBC on Sunday, and the men's third division against Nanaimo was cancelled (insufficient numbers from Nanaimo).


Coming Up

This weekend the A's and B's travel to MacDonald Park to play JBAA in 1st division and Premier (1pm and 2:45pm kickoffs).

The women travel again this Sunday to play the Meralomas.


Thirds

Thanks to all that showed for the game on Sunday, it was unfortunate that Nanaimo cancelled at the last
moment.

Feb 5th we have our first road trip up to Campbell River (which is the Saturday) and will be meeting at
Velox at 8:45 am and leaving at 9:00 in time for the 1:00 kick-off. We're unsure if we will get a bus,
anyone that would like to drive, can you please contact me.

Lastly, the optional training has been changed to Thursdays, come out for a run and a beer anytime after
5:30 pm.

Thanks,
Darryl

 

Last Chance For the First Road Trip

Anyone interested in travelling to our double header against the Capilano's on February 12 on the Supporters bus must let Christel Hume know by 9:00 p.m. this Thursday night (February 4) at Velox to reserve your seat.

Christel.Hume@gems5.gov.bc.ca

 

Superbowl Sunday

The Ebb Tide/Velox Old Boys game is presumably still on, so the club should be packed for the Superbowl game (Sunday, 3pm Superbowl kickoff). If you are planning on entering a chili into the cook off, e-mail John Lyall at jglyall@yahoo.ca so they can have an estimate of the entries.