Roger Hatch had a little inside information when he went looking for a job at Collingwood School in West Vancouver 29 years ago. A high-level rugby player, Hatch was applying to Collingwood one year after the school opened and had heard through the grapevine that the man doing the hiring, founding headmaster David Mackenzie, was himself a former international rugby player. Hatch hatched a plan.
"I happened to be wearing my BC Rugby tie into the interview," Hatch recalled when contacted by the North Shore News last week. "I got hired on the spot."
He's been there ever since. One of his first big tasks was whipping together a rugby team out of thin air. For a persuasive guy like Hatch, it was a snap.
"I was uber-enthusiastic and that kind of rubbed off on a few boys and a few more boys and a few more boys and we started going." Five years later David Speirs joined on as a co-coach and they've stayed that way pretty much since then.
What followed was many seasons of dominance in AA rugby, interrupted only by the introduction of a fierce new rival, West Vancouver's Rockridge secondary.
Rockridge started as a middle school in 1996 but became a full secondary school in the early 2000s and, with hot shot coach Tim Murdy at the helm, their rugby team was a threat almost instantly.
Sensing something special was brewing, the coaches from both sides decided to make the first meeting between the two teams each season into an event, a grudge match that would continue through the decades.
What Hatch didn't know was that Speirs and Murdy, both great friends from years spent coaching and playing together, conspired behind his back to name the game after him to honour all he had done for the sport at Collingwood and as a coach and player with the Capilano Rugby Club.
Thus was born the Hatch Shield.
"I was really honoured, particularly because it was two of my best friends who did it," said Hatch.
On Friday Hatch, still a co-coach of the school's senior boys rugby team, will be on the sidelines for his final Hatch Shield.
He's retiring from teaching and coaching after this school year. He's seen some great rugby played by elite teams over the years - Collingwood and Rockridge combined to win the provincial AA title nine times during a 10-year stretch from 1998 to 2007. The rivalry is still as strong as ever - the two teams met in last year's provincial final with Collingwood taking the win.
"The rivalry is amazing," said Hatch.
"The kids from both schools will get together on the weekends and they're friends. But when they get out on the field they're not friends anymore. And then when the game is over, it's over. They're friends again."
Winning the Hatch Shield is all about winning bragging rights the next time the kids all get together to hang out.
That's fitting considering that, according to Speirs, the best talker of the whole bunch might be Mr. Hatch himself.
"He's not just a great tactical coach, but he's always joking around with the guys," said Speirs.
"He's always having fun with them. The banter and the insults - it's a twoway street that goes nonstop. The guys love being around him. He's very quick on his feet - he tells the same jokes over and over again but he's very quick when it comes to banter with the kids. He'll get in some shots, and if they come back he's pretty quick with the reply. The guys, they just love him."
A favourite running gag is Hatch's call to action during training sessions.
The division of coaching duties has always been that Hatch works with the big, beefy forwards while Speirs coaches the smaller, quicker backs.
"Backs over there, the men here with me," or some variation of the phrase, is often Hatch's call.
"He's a forward through and through," said Speirs with a laugh. "He knows that his guys have to do the work to make my guys look good." Hatch's role with the team, however, and in the school in general, goes way beyond being the chief barb thrower.
"My favourite thing, and the most impressive thing, about him is that he's as passionate now as he was 24 years ago when I started coaching with him," said Speirs. "He just loves being with the guys and he just loves rugby and he wants to get the guys out. If somebody is unsure, he's going to try to convince him to play. He goes out to the rugby field every day with a big smile on his face because he loves it so much."
Speirs admitted that it will be very tough to find anyone who can come close to filling Hatch's shoes once he retires, although he did so in real Hatch-like fashion.
"We would never tell him that, but yes - we will definitely miss him."
The school will hold a Rugbyman's Roast for Roger June 14 and Speirs is expecting a big turnout of former players and students. All those kids, some now pushing past 40, are the reason that Hatch hung around for nearly three decades.
"I just love being around the kids and being able to find the different button that makes them tick," he said. "Whether it's an arm around the shoulder or a kick in the backside or sharing a little tear, I like finding the little button that makes kids tick."
Crafting those kids into a smoothly running rugby team is another story altogether.
"It's a sport that has 15 guys on the field - 30 if you count both teams - so developing that continuity is not an easy task," said Hatch. "It's great to be able to mould a team into something that has a little bit of precision."
Hatch will be hoping for precision when his Cavaliers take on the Ravens this Friday in his final Hatch Shield as a coach. Losing the game that bears his name really stings.
"It never feels good to lose any time, but when you lose the Hatch Shield game that's probably the epitome of the lowest that I would get coming off of the field," he said. On the flip side, there's nothing much better than grabbing hold of that Hatch trophy.
"It's a little bit embarrassing and humbling, but very, very gratifying," he said with a laugh. "I'd like to say it's not more important than any other game but I'd probably be lying. I'm as competitive as anybody. . . . It doesn't matter what it is. I'm a guy that played first division rugby until I was in my mid-40s and just would never quit. It means a lot, it would be huge."
This year's Hatch Shield game is scheduled for Friday, May 1 starting at 4 p. m. at Rockridge secondary. The game will likely determine who finishes first in regular season play in the Lower Mainland AA league.
