Continue reading »]]> Cowichan Piggies handed the Kickers their first loss of the season, 28-17, thereby gaining a measure of revenge for an earlier 44-0 defeat. The Kickers couldn’t get anything going as they repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. Aaron Larrivee summed it up…”Even after penetrating their defensive line we suffered from loose support, dropped ball and bad choices.” In addition, the Kickers’ inability to consistently kick converts and penalties came back to haunt them. Congratulations to Cowichan for a well played match. Comox Valley tries were scored by Mike Magee, Leigh Burley and Nathan Holley. Andy Hextall and newcomer Curtis Parker were chosen as CV Men of the Match. Next game: Velox, Feb 26th, 1:00 PM, Village Park, Cumberland.

SIDELINES:
The Kickers Rugby Club invites all those men and women interested in playing rugby to attend training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6.30 p.m.at the club’s Fallen Alders facility on the Royston/Cumberland Road. For more info, visit our website at http://kickersrugby.ca.

The club gratefully acknowledges our team sponsors, Investors Group and Wedler Engineering; along with our club sponsors AFC Construction and Continual Palingenesis – Social Media Solutions. Many thanks also to Bayview Chiropractic, Fluid Bar and Grill and Yummies & Gyros for their community way dollars (cw$) contribution. Without this support rugby would not continue to flourish in the Comox Valley.

Continue reading »]]> On Saturday February 18th  some of the IG Kickers Women, playing on a North Island first division select team traveled across the water to play United RFC in Coquitlum. Having beaten Abbotsford the previous week under sunny skies the North Island girls prepared for the worse as heavy rain/snow pelted down forcing players and spectators to scoop up excessive field water with garbage cans and wheel barrels.  Luckily the team was able to bounce back from their rough travel and came out firing!

Front row Aimee Burley, Jenna Roy and Susie Gilson dominated the opposition and won every scrum, making the ball easily playable for their backs. Outside center and power runner, Lisa Breuer scored the first try, and set up the next two, passing the ball off to team-mates Brenna Collicutt and Angela Buick. Stand-off Sam Kreeger was awarded a penalty try after being illegally brought down by the United scrum half.  Fullback Arlene McGuff made the conversion resulting in a final 27-0 score.  Women of the match was awarded to Lisa Breuer. The North Island girls proved they were the stronger team and with a 2-1 record, are currently second in the Division 1 standings.

The girls play a fun match Saturday, Feb 25th at Village Park in Cumberland. Kick-off at noon.

Next league game will take place in Nanaimo, March 10th against Kelowna.

The Kickers women would like to thank Investors Group. Their continuous support is a significant factor in assuring the development of women’s rugby in the Comox Valley.

Continue reading »]]> The AFC Comox Valley Kickers survived a late onslaught from the visiting Castaway-Wanderers to hang on to a 15-12 score-line and record another win on Sunday at Cumberland’s Village Park. The Kickers took a 15-0 lead into the last quarter of the match and looked confident of a whitewash victory until the Victoria based, C-W team mounted a late surge that almost won them the game forcing the home side to make some game-saving, goal-line stands to keep the surging visitors at bay. The Kickers just managed to hold off the surge and record their third win of the new Spring schedule.
From the outset, despite the wet conditions, both teams tried to play running rugby and, to their credit, both sides managed to handle the slippery ball with a minimum of knock-ons. The tackling from both sides proved aggressive and committed breaking up scoring attempts and it took until twenty minutes into the game before Andrew Hextall broke the impasse when he finished off in the corner for his first of the day. A little while later, not to be outdone, his brother Steve scooped up a ball at the edge of a ruck and sprinted forty metres to make it 10-0 for the home side at half-time.
The younger Hextall, Andrew, opened the second-half scoring when he romped thirty-metres to score wide out and give the home side a comfortable 15-0 lead. The Kickers, however, earned their second yellow card of the game forcing them to play with fourteen men for ten minutes, and C-W took full advantage putting Kevin Smith over for a try that Zak Barwin converted: 15-7. Buoyed by this score the visitors mounted attack after attack and it took some desperate goal-line tackling from the Kickers to prevent further scores. Eventually Matt Gordon went over bringing the score to 15-12 with only a few minutes remaining. The Kickers sensibly controlled the ball for the remaining time preventing any further scoring to record the victory.
“We really enjoyed the game today,” said former Canada player Spencer Robinson who captained the Castaway-Wanderers side. “There was lots of spirited play from the Kickers and I’m proud of the way my team played. In our team we try to mix experienced old guys — like myself — with younger players in order to try and pass on the rugby lessons we have learned over the years. They would have learned today that we should have found the form we showed at the end of the match much, much earlier for if we had we might have won the game today.”
“ Castaway-Wanderers provided us with a very competitive game today, the kind of games we need to improve our overall performance,” offered Kickers assistant-coach Frank Balcombe. “We weren’t as cohesive as we might have been today and didn’t get quick enough ball at the breakdown that would have helped our backs move the ball with more speed and pace.”
Andrew Hextall, who has scored four tries in his last two game, says that playing seven years of school rugby back in his native Coventry and being selected for Warwickshire County side at the U-17 level, gave him a good grounding in the game. “When I first came to Canada I thought I would like to go to Victoria and try and play senior rugby, but I’m having too much fun playing here in the Valley with the Kickers and alongside my brother. Steve and I have a healthy rivalry and next year I intend to start scoring tries earlier in the season and see if I can’t beat him in the try-scoring race.” At the moment Andrew has touched down eight times and Steve, seventeen times.
As well as the Hextall brothers, rookie prop Logan Buchanan continues to impress with his overall play, always looking for work and using the ball intelligently when he gets it in hand. Veteran Jeremy Grootendorst adds experience to the pack winning clean line-out ball and making the “hard yards’ when the game requires it. Hooker Kyle Christensen earned “Man of the Match” honors as voted on by the visiting Castaway-Wanderers.
The Kickers take on the Cowichan Piggies at Herd Road in Duncan next weekend as they look to extend their early season winning streak alive.
SIDELINES:
The Kickers Rugby Club invites all those who are interested in playing rugby to attend training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the club’s Fallen Alders facility on the Royston/Cumberland Road. Junior players take to the field at 5.30 p.m. and the Men and Women at 6.30 p.m.

The Club gratefully acknowledges our sponsors: A.F.C. Construction, Investors Group, Central Rentals, Wedler Engineering and Continual Palingenesis – Social Media Solutions, without whose support rugby would not continue to flourish in the Comox Valley.

Trevor McGuire fights through some Castaway-Wanderers as he goes for the line.

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Two try scorer Andrew Hextall on a rampaging run against the Black Sheep in a recent match.

The Hextall brothers, Steve and Andrew, scored two tries apiece as they helped the AFC Construction Comox Valley Kickers notch a 49-10 win over Powell River last Sunday as the locals recorded their second win of the Spring season.
Perhaps because of the ferry ride across the Strait of Georgia, in the early part of the game, the Kickers experienced difficulty finding any flow to their game, but once they found their stride, about twenty minutes into the match, the tries kept coming. As well as the four scored by the Hextall brothers, captain Eli Cummins, prop Leigh Burley, lock Jeremy Grootendorst, and wings Tim Beggs — his second in as many games — and Pieter Voster also scored tries, with Cummins adding two conversions. The half-time score stood at 20-3.

Steve Hextall’s effort marked his fifteenth and sixteenth tries of the season and for younger brother, Andrew, his fifth and sixth as the two continue to play outstanding rugby for the Kickers. Both brothers learned their rugby in England and in their three years living in the Valley have set the standard for a “full-on”, committed approach to every match. Andrew, who plays flanker or lock, is constantly the first player to every breakdown and when he gets the ball in his hands heads in only one direction – right for the try line. Steve does much the same from his centre position but often finds more room to run because by the time he gets the ball he has a less cluttered field of play in which to run. Nevertheless, his determination and hard-running leaves opposition players unable to contain him.
“The Hextall brothers are a great asset to the club,” praised coach Aaron L’Arrivee. “They always offer a threat to the opposition and they lead their fellow players by example.”
“Sunday’s result doesn’t tell the whole story. Powell River played a tough game against us and more than once threatened our line. In fact, toward the end of the game they mounted a persistent attack that saw them score their only try. Full credit to the Hextalls, but I would also like to add that newcomers Logan Buchanan and Damian Kudoba played particularly well.”
The Kickers take on Castaway-Wanderers next Sunday at Village Park in Cumberland: 1 p.m. kick-off.

SIDELINES:
The Kickers Rugby Club invites all those who are interested in playing rugby to attend training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the club’s Fallen Alders facility on the Royston/Cumberland Road. Junior players take to the field at 5.30 p.m. and the Men and Women at 6.30 p.m.

The Club gratefully acknowledges our sponsors: A.F.C. Construction, Investors Group, Central Rentals, Wedler Engineering and Continual Palingenesis – Social Media Solutions, without whose support rugby would not continue to flourish in the Comox Valley.

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Logan Buchanan making a determined run.

“Who are all the new guys?” asked a spectator at the Kickers vs Cowichan rugby match on Sunday at Village Park, Cumberland. Well might he ask. Over the last few weeks an influx of new players, particularly from Campbell River, have seen the Kickers with a surplus of players standing on the sidelines looking to get on the field. “It’s a bit of a problem,” says Kickers coach Aaron L’Arrive. “ A lot of these new guys play in the back-row and in the centres and I have a hard time making sure everyone gets a game.”
One of the new players, Damian Kodaba, showed a great deal of pace and grit as he scored one of the Kicker’s seven tries in the 44-0 romp over the lacklustre Cowichan Piggies, a mere shadow of the once powerful side that used to be the Kicker’s nemesis. “I usually play scrum-half, which I did for a while today, but they put me on the wing as well, and I had a great time. I was lucky enough to score a try and get a few good runs,” offered the former Carihi High player. “ There isn’t a men’s team in Campbell River anymore and some of us decided to drive down and attend a Kicker’s practice and test the waters. We really liked what we saw and now a bunch of us carpool down every week. We’re really enjoying it and we’re having a lot of fun.”
The Kickers began well spinning the ball through the backs until another newcomer centre, John Vinnedge, a former Vancouver Rowing Club player, went in for the opening score just two minutes after the opening whistle. Eli Cummins converted: 7-0. Tries by wing Tim Begg, back from a sabbatical, for his first of the season; centre Steve Hextall with two, for his thirteenth and fourteenth of the year, and another by centre Eli Cummins, left the half time score at 27-0 demonstrating the complete dominance of the Kicker’s back-line. Kodaba scored his to open the second-half followed by others from Mike Magee and Leigh Burley, which Cummins converted, to create the final 44-0 tally.
“ It was a great way to open the second-half campaign,” offered Kicker captain Eli Cummins. “ We were somewhat rusty but we started the first-half strongly and then got a bit sloppy toward the end of the game. Konrad Nikkle controlled the game well for us at #10 and Jeremy Grootendorst played really well in the pack taking nearly every line out ball and was quick to the break-down as well. Brad Hannah played his usual strong game when he came on and while Steve Hextall scored two tries, he doesn’t deserve any credit because that’s what we have grown to expect of him. He’s a try-scoring machine.”
The Kickers will take the ferry across the Strait next Sunday, Feb 5th, to play Powell River.

"Big Andy" takes them on in the trenches.

Steve Hextall heading for the try-line.

Tim Begg goes over in the corner

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Jared Hendry is spearheading a project to provide sports equipment to impoverished children ages 5 to 18 years old in the Philippines. He is collecting equipment for soccer, basketball and rugby.

He is working with a Non-Governmental Organization, WE  International  Philippines, (http://www.weinternational.org.ph/) which works extensively with children in the Smokey Mountain garbage dump just outside of Manila.

These families struggle every day to survive by collecting recyclable items from the trash that surrounds them. Glass, metal, paper and plastic are collected on a daily basis by both adult and child scavengers who sell these items to middle men, who in turn sell them at a higher price to recycling factories. This meager daily income is often the family’s only source of revenue. WE International works one-on-one with villagers to establish education, medical care, facilitate economic development and sports programs for children.

Any runners, cleats, balls or jerseys you may have around the house will greatly benefit these children that have been born into unbelievable poverty.

The Kickers Rugby Club is asking everyone, if you please have any old equipment you no longer use to please donate.  The club will be collecting the equipment from now until mid-February for Jared to send, and there will be a box left inside the clubhouse for your thoughtful donations!

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Leigh Burley in action on the snow

Rugby thrives on traditions, with some fixtures between clubs in Britain going back over one hundred and fifty years. On Saturday at Cumberland Village Park the Comox Valley Kickers and the Port Alberni Black Sheep began another tradition when the two clubs played for the newly inaugurated Beaufort Cup. The two clubs hope to play annually for this new Cup in a fixture that will include every level within their organizations and will be played on a total points basis on the day. In the first Annual Beaufort Cup only the Senior Men and the Senior Women played, but in future organizers hope to include Junior as well as Mini players.
Kickers “Mr. Everything”, Colin Chappell came up with the idea of the Beaufort Cup: “Just as the Beaufort Mountain range separates us, the Beaufort Cup will bring us closer together by holding this inter-club, “friendly” event to include every level of the two clubs,” said the former Bath player. “We have been trying to make this work for a number of years and have always fallen afoul of the weather, but today, in spite of a light dusting of snow, we finally held the first fixture. And, it proved a great success.”
The Black Sheep arrived with over forty players in their own club bus and soon the women’s team took on the Kicker women in a Seven-a side match. The Black Sheep eventually won five tries to three, 25-15 leaving the Kicker men with a ten point deficit to make up if they hoped to be the first holders of the Cup.
The men then took to the blue chalk-lined pitch – a sight seldom seen in rugby – on a venue that looked more amenable to having a snowball fight than a rugby match. The Black Sheep seemed to recover from their Christmas excesses far faster than the Kickers did, and soon held a 14-0 lead on tries by Lewis Mearns and Cody McLarey, both converted by Todd Daradics, before the Kickers got on the board shortly before half-time when Konrad Nikkel opened the door for Nathan Holley with a pretty little offload allowing the big #8 to romp over for a score under the post to make it easy for Eli Cummins to convert: 14-7 half-time.
The Black Sheep continued to pressure the home side in the second stanza crossing for three further tries by Joe Kaulagin, Ty Shannon and Ryan Turner with Todd Daradics converting two for a 33-7 win, giving the visitors an overall Beaufort Cup tally of 58-22.
After the matches all the players and supporters repaired to the Kickers Clubhouse at their Fallen Alder facility where the Kickers cook Steve Russell had prepared two turkeys, a huge roast of beef and a variety of salads for the hungry masses to demolish. “This has been a wonderful day and a great event to kick off the New Year,” commented Port Alberni’s Jan Purwal, the Black Sheep’s “Mr. Everything”. “ Last year twenty-eight of our club toured New Zealand during the World Cup and so this is a wonderful way to kick-off this year with a friendly event that will forge new bonds between our two clubs and continue to foster rugby in the North Island .”
“We obviously ate and partied more than the Black Sheep over the holidays,” said Kicker’s coach Aaron L’arrive. “They played very well today and we had trouble getting enough ball to work with. On the good side we were able to introduce three new players, a flanker, a prop and a scrum-half who have come down from Campbell River and want to play for the club. All good. This was a good warm-up for our first League fixture against Cowichan Piggies two weekends from now.”
So, the first Beaufort Cup will be recorded as a win for the men and women from the West Coast but, no doubt, as this new fixture continues on an annual basis, the real winner will be the “Great Game” of rugby as new traditions take hold across the Beaufort Mountains.

SIDELINES:
The Kickers Rugby Club invites all those who are interested in playing rugby to attend training sessions on Thursday evenings at the club’s Fallen Alders facility on the Royston/Cumberland Road at 6.30 p.m.

The club gratefully acknowledges our team sponsors, Investors Group and Wedler Engineering; along with our club sponsors AFC Construction and Continual Palingenesis – Social Media Solutions. Many thanks also to Bayview Chiropractic and Yummies & Gyros for their community way dollars (cw$) contribution. Without this support rugby would not continue to flourish in the Comox Valley.

Andy Hextall on the rampage

Shane Stuchbery makes the hard yards

Continue reading »]]> 2012 Beaufort Cup Challenge

On  Saturday January 14th @ 12pm the Beaufort Cup will be taking place at Village Park Cumberland.  Comox and Port Alberni clubs will be going head to head to claim the bragging rights of this trophy. The club with the most points from the men and women games that afternoon is declared the winner.  Come show your support!

Continue reading »]]> Click here to view the Men’s 3rd Division schedule in a calendar format.

VELOX              COWICHAN        SAANICH           C.W.             COMOX             POWELL

Jan 29    CW                     @Comox             Powell R         @Velox         Cowichan         @Saanich

Feb 5    @Cowichan      Velox                    @CW                 Saanich       @Powell R          Comox

Feb 12    Powell R         @Saanich             Cowichan       @Comox       CW                        @Velox

Feb 19    Saanich           Comox                 @Velox           @Powell R    @Cowichan     CW

Feb 26    @Comox       @CW                     @Powell R      Cowichan      Velox                   Saanich

March 4    Cowichan   @Velox               Comox             Powell R        @Saanich          @CW

March 11  @Powell R    CW                     @Comox         @Cowichan   Saanich              Velox

March 18    @Saanich    Powell R          Velox                Comox           @CW                    @Cowichan

March 25    Comox        @Powell R       CW                    @Saanich       @Velox               Cowichan

April 1    @CW                 Saanich            @Cowichan    Velox               Powell R             @Comox

April 8    Make    Up    EASTER    Week    End    EASTER

April 15    NVIRU    ——-    ——-    Semi    

April 22    NVIRU    ——-    ——-    FINAL 

April 28    Saturday    BCRU    1/4    FINAL  

May 5    Saturday    BCRU    semi    FINAL 

May 12    Saturday    BCRU        FINAL