ON Stanley Park's huge Brockton Oval rugby pitch Thursday, West Vancouver rivals Rockridge and Collingwood battled over mere inches of turf in the Lower Mainland AA championship final.
In the end it was only the Collingwood Cavaliers who managed to touch down for a try, earning an 8-3 win to claim the New Zealand Shield. It was the second low-scoring, high-smashing meeting between the two teams this year - Collingwood won 13-10 in April - a testament to how closely matched the West Vancouver neighbours are.
"These guys all know each other, it's always kind of the local derby when they play each other," said Collingwood head coach David Speirs. "They're buddies - or they're not buddies."
Fullback Taylor Milliken scored the only try of the game 20 minutes into the first half, turning on the speed out wide to complete a move started with some strong work from Collingwood's forwards. Milliken added a penalty kick in the second half, scoring all of his team's points in the win. Rockridge pressed hard in the final minutes but the Cavaliers held their ground, keeping the Ravens from finding their way over the line.
"It's incredible," Collingwood captain Marshall Fuller said about coming out ahead in Thursday's slugfest. "That was a pretty hard-fought game, it could have gone either way. . . . It was a huge defensive game - everyone was hitting and fighting, every inch counted. We came away with a lucky break and put it in the corner. That's really what won it, just one break."
Speirs was impressed by the defence displayed by both teams. "We had some good chances in the second half - we got to their goal line three or four times - and they held really well. I give them a lot of credit for their defence. We got caught out a couple of times but I thought defensively we were really solid too. Sometimes when you have two really solid teams you get low scoring games like that."
The final minutes saw frantic action at the Collingwood goal line as the Ravens threw everything they had at the Cavaliers but couldn't break through.
"We knew they were going to try diving lineouts and our forwards really established low body position to hold them off," said Speirs. "And when they did, that forced them to spin it wide and our backline came up and in those crucial last five minutes they did make their tackles."
The Cavaliers were once again led by their power trio of Grade 12 players Fuller, Milliken and Connor McRae.
"Marshall just kind of took the game by the scruff of the neck like he usually does," said Speirs. "Taylor was awesome, Connor - our three guys, I mention them all the time but those guys, they're game breakers."
Both teams will now head to the provincial championships starting this weekend and they'll both be battle-tested because of their games against each other.
"Rockridge and Collingwood are always amongst the best AA teams and I think that really helps us at the B.C.s because we play each other a couple of times a year so it makes us both much better," said Speirs.
Fuller addressed both teams after receiving the championship banner, voicing his respect and appreciation for the Rockridge team. It's become an annual occurrence for the two teams to battle in the Lower Mainland final.
"The Rockridge/Collingwood rivalry has been going on ever since I came to Collingwood," he said. "It's a huge privilege to have such a good team in your area. We always meet up early and then meet in the finals and it's a hard-fought game every time. We just push and fight and luckily we came out on top today."
There's a chance that the two teams could meet once more, in the provincial final. Collingwood comes in ranked No. 2 behind Brentwood College while Rockridge is No. 4. There are good teams, however, standing in the way of that rematch. Fuller feels good about how his Collingwood team is playing heading into the final tournament.
"I'm pretty confident," he said. "We've really been coming together in the past couple of weeks. I feel like everyone is really dedicated to our goal of winning the provincial championship. I feel pretty confident going into it."
In the AAA New Zealand Shield final, played immediately after the AA game, the West Vancouver Highlanders represented the North Shore against the powerful St. George's Saints, ranked No. 1 in the province. The Highlanders fought well against the Vancouver private school but ran out of gas late, losing 41-17.
The Saints built up a quick 15-6 lead but West Van scored a try on the last play of the half to make it 15-11. A West Van penalty kick early in the second half made it a one point game but it was all Saints after that as they scored a long try just seconds later and then added three more in the late stages of the half.
West Vancouver coach Dan Weidner was happy with the way his team hung in there with the undefeated Saints.
"It was a very close game," he said. "The score doesn't reflect the match."
The Highlanders will go into the provincial AAA championships ranked No. 7. They'll be joined by Carson Graham, ranked ninth, and Argyle, ranked 11th. The final rounds of the AA and AAA provincial championships will be held May 29-June 1 in Abbotsford.
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Opening round matchups for the provincial championships are set for this weekend. Here are the games for the North Shore squads: AA
Collingwood vs. Smithers, May 26, 5 p.m., Klahanine Park Rockridge vs. L.V. Rogers, May 25, 4 p.m., Parkinson Recreation Centre (Kelowna) AAA
West Vancouver vs. G.P. Vanier, May 25, 1 p.m., Brentwood College (Mill Bay)
Carson Graham vs. Oak Bay, May 25, 1 p.m., Brentwood College
Argyle vs. Robert Bateman, May 25, 2: 30 p.m., St. George's School
