Push, pull or sprint; the Bow Valley Grizzlies have a complete game.
The Cochrane-based club won its 11th-straight Calgary Rugby Union Div. 3 men’s match 45-7 over visiting Banff on Aug. 15 at Mitford Pond rugby pitch. The lopsided final score did not indicate the urgency of play. While controlling the scrums with mighty heaves, and locking it down on defence, the Grizzlies were struggling with lineouts and set pieces against a determined Banff side.
Leading 7-0 late in the first half, the Grizzlies needed a spark to break the match open.
Enter rookie Justin Mount. The 2014 Cochrane High School Cobras grad, who played runningback/slotback with the Cobras football team, showed why he’ll be playing rugby at the University of British Columbia this fall.
The Grizzlies winger scooped a loose ball near the centre stripe and exploded down the west sideline for one of Bow Valley’s gaudiest individual scores this season. He simply ran away from everyone over 50 metres of damp grass en route to the goal line.
“I wish I had gas like that,” Grizzlies head coach Ty Hawes remarked as spectators and teammates marvelled at Mount’s fleet feet. Mount would score another one on the night on a nice second-half sequence that put the dagger into Banff.
“That knocked the wind out of them,” observed seasoned rugby spectator Ian Evans, watching son “Sockless” Dave Evans play for the Grizz.
“We’re definitely going to miss Justin,” Hawes said of Mount’s imminent departure for the University of B.C. Hawes was also quick to mention versatile Cameron Birch, who left late in the match with a bloody nose.
“Cam had a good game,” Hawes continued. “He’s super-skilled. Very aware of the game. He knows the game, you can tell.”
And it’s not just about Birch’s outside speed on the back line. He’s the full-meal deal, despite his lean frame.
“He’s like a little honey badger out there, nailing dudes,” Hawes related. “Nobody will get around him, either. He makes all his tackles. He’s very tenacious.”
Of concern to Hawes in the Banff fixture was the visitor’s theft of Bow Valley’s lineout balls.
“We struggled a little bit with both sides of our lineout today,” he said. “Banff had a very good lineout. They reacted well to where we were going.
“We have to be more dynamic with our lineouts.”
With the regular season almost over, it’s down to the details for Hawes and the Grizzlies. The team is rounding into form, with large numbers turning out for practices and matches. The team had a full 25-man roster for the Banff fixture.
“It’s still building. It’s show time,” Hawes surmised. “That game today, that was a rugby game in the first half. At the beginning of the season, if we’d have played like that in the first half, we’d have probably fallen apart.
“We’ve come a long way, and we’re sticking to our guns.”
