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Manthers slay dragons from Coast

Salmon Arm Secondary rugby players and coaches of past and present united with A.L. Fortune alumni in the Annual Sunfest Rugby tournament.

Salmon Arm Secondary rugby players and coaches of past and present united with A.L. Fortune alumni in the Annual Sunfest Rugby tournament.

Teams from the Coast regularly win the tournament. Two pools this year played short rugby games of 20 minutes to quickly decide a winner.

The first match that the Enderby/Salmon Arm Manthers played was against the Capilano Rugby Club that  won the Canadian Direct Insurance Premier League Championship this season.

Capilano was playing under their alias summer festival team, the Gibson Pigs. It was a tie game at half time under a coastal deluge of rain, definitely giving the coastal team the upper hand. Capilano struck first and scored in the corner, just making the conversion 7-0. Manthers got a penalty near the posts and Jeff Miller made the conversion 7 - 3.

With 10 minutes left in the second half, Dan Gawley fended off two players and bowled over another to score under the posts. Andy Brock made the conversion. The Pigs tried to come back and sat on the Manthers’ five-yard line with a scrum.  Brett Lord and the Gathergood boys, Matrix and Sterling, stole the ball while Ryan Penner, at scrum half, kicked the ball into touch. It was a goal line stance for the Manthers as the last effort by the Pigs tried but Brock, James Cookson, and Tyrone McCabe made the big hit, causing a scrum and game over.

Second game on Saturday in the downpour was against Simon Fraser University. One SFU player had brilliant speed, being selected for BC U-23.  He sliced a few times through the Manther defence.  However, James Cookson managed to run the angle on him with his fitness and crunched him near the sideline before the SFU gazelle could score any more. Final score: Manthers 50 - SFU 28.

The grand finale Sunday versus the  Scribes from East Vancouver was even more impressive. In the  first 20  minutes, the Scribes ran through the fatigued Manthers scoring three tries, making it look easy. A half-time speech by Garrett Johnson and Jeff Miller rallied the young Manthers. Enough said, the group came out firing to score in the first five minutes with Cookson barging and bumping off the Scribe players to score in the corner.  Jeff Smith from Kamloops ran from the Manther 22 all the way, dodging six Scribes to score under the posts, with Miller to convert. Driving a three-man maul towards the goal was led by Brett Lord and supported by Graham from Enderby, scoring right under the posts. Wingman Wiliam Shaw made a brilliant catch on the Scribe’s 30-metre line. He off-loaded to Greg Seed who fended off Mike Armstrong to score in the corner. Cookson and Seed were named MVPs of the game that ended up Manthers 38 –  Scribes 15.

If you are interested in playing men’s rugby, contact Andy Brock at 250-803-2526.