The Collingwood Cavaliers Grade 8 rugby team defeated Carson Graham 41-19 Nov. 13 to cap an undefeated season with an exclamation point. Although both teams seemed unable to handle the greasy ball in the early going, when the Cavs got it into gear, they were unstoppable. They had too many weapons in their arsenal for the gritty Carson team who battled to the end but were simply unable to cope with a Collingwood team with no real weaknesses.
As usual, it was Carter Proc who did most of the try-scoring, but his teammates were outstanding around him. Proc was often put away after Jaxson Vickerstaff or Arran Tattersall had made a strong and powerful run and then had the rugby intelligence to link with Proc who would take it to the house. Cam Bird orchestrated the attack from fly-half where he moved it well or cleverly cut back inside if he felt the Carson backs cheating up outside him. Alex Zastre was outstanding in his delivery from scrum-half.
In the forwards, Andrew Davies, Edward Coleman, Derek Eggertson and Cullen Murphy were all tenacious and provided endless ball for the backline through their terrific running and rucking.
The 2012 Grade 8 team now joins the team from 2000 as the only Collingwood Grade 8 team to finish a season undefeated. That is heady company for these boys as the 2000 squad went on to become one of the finest teams Collingwood has ever produced. The future looks equally bright for current Cavs who can congratulate themselves on an extraordinary season.
