THE Capilano Rugby Club's elite men's team will be looking to complete an impressive one-year rise from a crushing low to an exhilarating high this weekend as they host James Bay in the CDI Premier League championship final Saturday.
It's hard to fight for a championship when you're not even in the league. That's the predicament the storied Capilano club was in one year ago when their elite team shockingly failed to qualify for the B.C.-wide premier league and were forced to toil away in Tier 2. But after a collective club culture change, the Capilanos regained their spot in the top league this spring and are now one win away from claiming their first championship title since they earned back-to-back crowns in 2004-05.
Capilano, third-place finishers in league play, will meet first-place James Bay starting at 4 p.m. Saturday at Klahanie Park.
"I've got a feeling it's going to be a little bit crazy down there," said Capilano head coach Tom Larisch. "We were relegated last year and had to battle our way back into the top division this year. And getting into the final 12 months later is quite an accomplishment. But we're not finished yet."
Capilano traveled to Vancouver Island last Saturday and earned a tough 34-22 road win over Castaway Wanderers, the defending champs, to book their spot in the final.
"Any time you go to the Island it's difficult," said Larisch. "We just managed to wear them down and contained them very well with some passionate defence and then executed on offence and took our chances and came away with the win."
Larisch has had a front row seat for all of Capilano's ups and downs over the past couple of seasons. In 2010 the team's former head coach stepped down and Larisch, who was a player and team captain at the time, was asked to step into the head coaching role. He was no stranger to coaching - as a Carson Graham teacher he has led the Eagles to success year after year - but the move from player to coach was a new and challenging experience.
"It's extremely difficult," he said. "It's really hard to explain unless you've actually done it, but it's not easy to coach a lot of your friends. You have to try to put feelings and friendships and emotions aside and make the right decisions based on what's best for the club. That's not easy to do at times, it's quite draining. I was asked to do it and a lot of my friends have been outstanding, were very supportive and we seem to be doing well so I can deal with the stress if the club is going to win."
The stress increased, however, when Capilano didn't win. A string of losses culminated in the team not qualifying for the premier league in the spring of 2011. It was a big blow for the proud club and Larisch took it hard.
"I'm not used to losing," he said. "I endured more losing as a coach last year than I have in my entire teaching and coaching career - Carson Graham and the club have been extremely successful. It was difficult to not have success. Looking back on it I understand it and it was part of the process to get where we are now but it was very difficult at the time."
Part of the problem was that players were not committing to each other and the club as they had in the past, said Larisch.
"The camaraderie and commitment to the club was not the same as it was in the past," he said. "You have to want to play for each other in rugby if you want to have success. Until you're willing to sacrifice yourself a little bit for each other, you're not going to win those big, close tough games."
To turn things around the club went through a massive culture change. Among the rules implemented was the simple idea of getting players to hang out with each other before and after training sessions. Building relationships is a huge part of building a strong team in a physical sport like rugby.
"We basically had to re-culture the club," said Larisch. "It definitely was a process to get the guys to figure out that it wasn't just from 7: 30 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday that you were part of the club and then games on Saturday. It's more than that. You've got to be putting time in off the field, you need to be hanging out after practice together. You need to be looking at film if you want to have success. A lot of people are figuring that out and I think that's a big part of why we're having success now. We're not just good players, we're a good team and a good club again. Whatever happens off the field filters onto the field. If you want to step up and you want to play hurt for the guys beside you because you care about them, it makes a massive difference."
Those changes along with some personnel moves - the team welcomed back some veterans who had left Capilano for various reasons and added in a few players new to the club - led a resurgence. Capilano won the Tier 2 title last spring and went on the claim the Lower Mainland fall league championship in 2011, easily qualifying for this year's premier league. Now they're playing for a championship
"It's a group effort," said Larisch. "It starts with a whole bunch of volunteers and the executive and all the assistant coaches and, most importantly, it's the players that are putting the time in and working hard."
Capilano was the only team to beat James Bay this season, winning 23-6 at Klahanie Park Feb. 4. James Bay returned the favour one month later, winning 4727 on their home turf.
"James Bay is an outstanding club," said Larisch. "They're loaded with a bunch of good players, a couple of exprofessionals, a couple of Canada guys. It's going to be a very tough game."
Capilano has some national team firepower of their own. Ryan Hamilton played in last year's Rugby World Cup and Harry Jones is a member of the national sevens team. Capilano will be missing their leading scorer from the regular season - scrum-half Matt Yanagiya just got called away by his day job as a movie stuntman - but Larisch said first-team call-up Chris Robinson filled in admirably against the Wanderers last weekend and will likely get the call again against James Bay.
With bright sunshine in the forecast and a host club hungry for a championship, Saturday's final is setting up to be an epic spectacle.
"We're the only team to have beaten them this year in a league game," said Larisch. "They beat us over there so it's a grudge match, the rubber match. It should be a beauty."
. . .
Klahanie Park will play host to four championship games on Saturday. At 11 a.m. the action starts with Burnaby Lake and Velox playing the Harris Memorial Cup Final, provincial championship for the women's Adidas premiership. At 12: 30 p.m. Velox and Kamloops will play in the men's third division provincial championship game. Meraloma and Castaway Wanderers will meet in the Ceili's Cup Final, the provincial championship game in the men's first division, at 2 p.m.. The main event, Capilano meeting James Bay in the premier men's Rounsefell Cup final, rounds out the day at 4 p.m.
General admission for the day is $15 for adults and $10 for under-15 youths.
