LUCAS Martin and Jordan Reid-Harvey of the North Shore's Capilano Rugby Club can call themselves national champions after helping British Columbia's under-19 men's provincial team to victory at the U19 Canadian Rugby Championships held last week in Edmonton.
Team B.C. went undefeated in the tournament, completing a four-game sweep with a 30-0 win over the Prairie Wolfpack at the Nor'Westers Athletic Association field on Sunday. The win capped off an exhausting stretch of four games in four days for the team. B.C. opened the tournament with a 41-17 win over the Voyageurs from Eastern Ontario and Quebec on Thursday, July 12 and followed that up with a 55-0 thrashing of Team Atlantic Friday.
On Saturday came the toughest test as B.C matched up with team Ontario in what was the de facto championship game. Ontario took control early and built up a 24-12 lead but B.C. battled back with three late tries to claim a 31-24 victory.
In the final game Team B.C. shut out the Wolfpack to claim the title, finishing their dominant tournament performance with 157 points for and only 41 against.
"Considering that all the other teams in this tournament are currently in season, it's very impressive that our lads were able to come here after our training sessions and perform the way we did," stated Kris de Scossa in a B.C. Rugby press release. "(We had) a system and the players went out there and made it work. You could see the elation on their faces as they capitalized on the mismatches and put on such a clinical and professional display."
