Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

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RUGBY NOTES 1949 1950 1st RUGBY XV BACK ROW: T. R. Putnam, J. B. Burr, D. V. Allan, J. A. Pearkes, W. J. Flint, A. S. Patrick. CENTRE ROW: M. R. Morrison, A. A. Parke, C. B. Tuttle, D. E. Johnson (Captain), B. Loughary, D. G. Butt, M. M. Bayly. FRONT ROW: W. S. Edgett, M. Bellm. ABSENT: D. C. Maclnnes. With nine old colours back from last year ' s team, we hoped for a successful season. Therefore it was disappointing to be able to win but two of our eight matches. In only one game, however, did the team play poorly and throughout the term the standard of play and the spirit of the team was much higher than it has been for the past few seasons. The 1st XV, when at full strength, was capable of playing very attractive football, and often did so, but rarely for the whole of the game. More often than not, part of the game would be played very raggedly, and it was during these lapses that our opponents scored enough points to win the game. It was hard to put a finger on the cause of this, and must be put to that phrase which covers a multitude of sins, Lack of experience . Oak Bay Wanderers B team were met and defeated and then followed a victory over Canadian Services College B team. It looked 17

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GROVES ' HOUSE NOTES Once more it is June and once more the time has come to review the activities of the past year. In the field of sports we have not excelled this year as we did in the two previous ones but have managed to obtain a happy medium. In our efforts to retain the Rugby Cup we defeated Lake ' s House 9-6 in overtime. However, we succumbed to Rip ' ey ' s in the finals with a score of 26-3 against us. We were, however, handicapped by the loss of three of our 1st XV members. Wearne, Bellm I, and Bellm II are to be congratulated on winning their House Colours. To the School 1st XV we contributed seven members and again we must congratulate three people, Morrison, Bayly and Edgett on winning their School Colours. Groves ' did very well in boxing again this year, winning five out of nine weights. In the Inter-House Gymnastic competition we tied with Lake ' s for first place. It has been a long time since we have had the Cricket Cup in our Common Room, but if one looks he will see it there now. We defeated Lake ' s, 64-20, in the first round and Ripley ' s, 56-34, in the finals. Bellm II is to be congratulated on winning his House Colours. To the First XI Groves ' contributed six members and, because of their outstanding playing throughout the season, Patrick and Bellm II were awarded their School Colours in this sport. This year our House Prefects were Patrick, Bellm I and Morrison, who assisted Parke and Loughary as School Prefects in the House affairs. We are very sorry to hear that our House Master, Mr. Larsen, is leaving us for several years to attend Oxford. We wish him all success in his life there and sincerely hope to hear from him often. Our boys have done well not only in sports but also in many other fields of endeavour this year. During the Prize-Giving Ceremony we realized that of the sixteen prizes given for scholarship, music and general progress, Groves ' boys won ten of them. Also, the three most respected prizes of the year were won by our boys — David Bellm won the Sportsmanship Cup; Alan Parke won the Efficiency Cup and the Douglas Woodward Scholarship. In addition to this, more than half the Efficiency List were Groves ' members. These achievements could never have been accomplished without the first class spirit which has prevailed in the House from the beginning of the year to the end. 16

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as if we were in for a good season. The next two matches against Victoria High Scho ol and a return match against Canadian Services College B team were drawn, the School in the latter match playing extremely well to hold off a very determined rally in the closing minutes by a much larger and older side. We met our first defeat, appropriately enoueh at the hands of the Old Boys on Rag Concert Sunday. The Old Boys certainly outdid themselves and really showed the School the full value of hard tackling and resolute falling on the ball. Our matches with both University School and St. George ' s School resulted in narrow victories for our opponents. The game against St. George ' s was particularly disappointing from our point of view as we had hoped very much for a dry day and instead played on a field which resembled a lake and was every bit as wet. However, we must not belittle St. George ' s win, and the try they scored was a good one if rather on the lucky side. Our final game, a return battle with Victoria High School, ended with our visitors beating us fairly easily and the School giving its worst exhibition of the season. On paper, perhaps, it does not look an impressive record, but matches are not played on paper and we were a better side than one would guess from our final results. Once again it was the lack of an adequate place kicker on the side that led to our downfall on more than one occasion. Butt, the best kicker we had, was only able to convert one of our tries. Last year only two tries were converted. Little did we know that this year, by com- parison, would be worse! Let us hope that some boy will take this significant fact into account and do something to remedy the deficiency. As for the team itself, the forwards, led by Tuttle, improved a great deal from the start of the season, but suffered throughout from a tendency to be outpushed in the set scrums; our opponents on no less than four occasions pushing us over our line for a try. The three- quarters as a unit were a definite disappointment. Good individually, they lacked cohesion as a line and consequently much of their thrust was wasted. Johnson, Captain and Centre, was too fond of running on his own and this resulted in either a delayed pass or no pass at all. Butf s speed and strength on the wing proved invaluable and he scored a number of good tries. However, his defence was extremely weak while his falling on the ball was practically non-existent. Burr proved to be a sound full-back and must be congratulated on making such a successful change from his original forward position and filling in in a spot where we really had no one at all. The main weakness of the side lay at half-back where Edgett and Parke failed to reach that understand- ing of one another ' s play which is so essential to sound half-back play. Each boy was satisfactory in his spot but Edgett was inclined to be too slow in passing the ball out from the base of the scrum and was occasionally guilty of thoughtlessness, while Parke ' s main difficulty lay in his inability to link up smoothly with his two centres. When he cut through and he could beautifully, he cut so straight and fast that no one was able to stay near him. This was not his fault, perhaps, but on at least three occasions a try would have resulted had someone been able to keep up with him. 18