Note: See the Update posted below this article for new info on playoff positioning
The season so far for the Capilano Rugby Club's elite men's team has been kind of like an Oreo: tough cookies on both ends with a delicious bit in the middle.
Back in October the Caps lost their first three games of the season, including a pair of three-point defeats that came down to the final seconds.
"They were just heartbreaking losses in games we could have or should have won," said head coach Tom Larisch. "It was just unlucky."
The team then won six of the next seven during a stretch that included the long winter break, putting themselves in good position to make the four-team playoffs. Since then, however, the team has faced a few of the league's juggernauts and not fared well, losing 51-12 on the road against the Castaway Wanderers (8-5) in late March and 43-7 last weekend against James Bay (9-4) in another game played on the island.
The truth of the team, now sitting at 7-6 with one regular season game left, is that their talent lies somewhere in between the extremes, said Larisch.
"That (winning streak) was against sort of the lower half of the standings. In the last couple of weeks here we've faced the toughest three teams in the league," he said, adding that there is a lot of parity in the league this season. "It was definitely one of the most competitive years from first team to last team. Meraloma (0-13) got a little bit better as the year went on - unfortunately their club is having a tough go, trying to rebuild - but the other teams on any given day could win, and did win."
The season, however, will not get any easier for Capilano from here on in. On Saturday the Caps will host their final regular season game with top-ranked Burnaby Lake (12-1) coming to town. Burnaby has been the class of the league and has already locked up top spot heading into the semifinals.
Fourth place Capilano has clinched a playoff spot and has an outside shot at passing the Castaway Wanderers for third place, but will have to go on the road for the playoff semifinals regardless of which final ranking they end up with. The most likely outcome is that Capilano and Burnaby will end up meeting again two weeks later with a berth in the CDI Premier League final on the line. So there's not a ton at stake Saturday at Klahanie Park, but Larisch expects the teams to still put on a great show for supporters.
"It's a big game against Burnaby, it's a rivalry game. It's always a good game between the two clubs. Good hard rugby."
Larisch added that he doesn't expect the strategy or effort to change even though the teams are likely going to meet again soon with much more at stake in their sudden death playoff.
"As a coach it doesn't really affect me," he said. "I'm still going to prepare the team to win. Mentally for the players it's just a matter of having the goal to win and play the best rugby we can.... That's the sort of preparation we want every week so it becomes habit."
Larisch also refused to lament the strange scheduling quirk that has seen his team face the league's best teams week after week during the final month of the season.
"It doesn't really matter," he said. "It is what it is. If anything, it shows us what we need to try to get to. It's kind of good to prepare us appropriately for the playoffs.... We've been a bit battered and a bit bruised. Playing on the Island is tough - we've just got to figure it out and do our best and keep going."
The Caps are led by captain Glen McKinnon with youngsters Gareth Dyer and Adam Zaruba coming on strong. The loss of two Jones boys, however - older brother and assistant captain Charlie is recovering from a dislocated elbow while younger brother Harry has been on duty with the national team - has kept the team from reaching its peak.
"It's one of those things - when some of our best players get injured, it's difficult to go up against a team stacked full of rep guys," said Larisch. "We have a couple imports that came into our club, (but) this weekend 13 of our 15 players were developed through our club, from North Shore high schools and from Capilano. We've had a solid year but to really have success in those top games you need a few extra players that are high-end players. We're still developing those. James Bay and Castaway, they've got some rep-level players that they've attracted to their club.... For us to win those games we have to play basically perfect."
They've done it before. In 2012 the Caps went on a monster run after finishing third in the league, beating No. 2 Castaway and No. 1 James Bay to win the title. Last season they made the playoffs but fell to James Bay in an overtime thriller on the island.
This year they'll be looking to get back in the final and they have a little extra incentive on top of all the usual competitive spirit: the club will host this year's final if there is a Lower Mainland team in the match. The Capilano players really want to be the ones hoisting the trophy on the home turf. To get there, however, they'll have to beat the best. That, as they say, is how the cookie crumbles.
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The Caps host Burnaby Lake this Saturday at Klahanie Park starting at 2:45 p.m. The semifinals will be played Saturday, April 26 and the provincial final is scheduled for May 10.
While the elite men have their hands full in the coming weeks, there will be plenty of other Capilano players on the pitch as well. Capilano fields four men's teams and they all look like they're headed to the playoffs. The first division squad is in third place while a pair of third division teams, a Tier A and a Tier B, are also near the top of the table in their leagues.
"As a club as a whole we're really proud because we're the only club fielding four men's teams," said Larisch. "To be fielding four teams and having all four of them going to playoffs is great."
Update:
On Thursday the BC Rugby Union clarified the CDI Premier League playoff battles, indicating that there was a slim chance for the UBCOB Ravens to pass Capilano for the fourth and final playoff spot. Here's their take on the situation, as per communications manager Andrew Smith:
For Caps to not make playoffs the following has to happen on Saturday: UBCOB Ravens beat Castaway Wanderers with four tries (five points from a four point win and one point bonus); Caps have to lose and not get a single bonus point against Burnaby.
Then both will be tied at 36 points with all the tiebreakers below. It would probably go down to most tries scored in league play. Caps have a slight advantage here but again it all depends on the weekend.
Tiebreakers:
10.1.1 Two-way ties in leagues based on bonus points: In the case of two teams tied at the end of the season, the final standings shall be determined by considering in order the factors below:
- The record of the games played between the two teams;
- The most wins in league play;
- The most bonus points earned in league play;
- The most tries scored in league play;
- The score differential, points for minus points against, in league play; or
- The toss of a coin by the Chair of the CC.
