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

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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

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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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Nevertheless, the whole calibre of rugby was an improvement over last year and, even when losing, it was grand to see the boys play as if at any moment they expected to score the winning try. 2nd XV The 2nd XV surprised everyone, including themselves, by winning a School match and almost winning three others. Not conceded much chance at the beginning of the term to be at all successful against any- one, they started off by living up to expectations and being well beaten by Canadian Services College C team. However, this was no disgrace as they were playing against a team almost three years older per man. Next we were shown a glimpse of their potentialities as they were nar- rowly beaten by St. George ' s 2nd XV, 6 points to 5 points. The return match against Canadian Services College C team saw us well beaten again. However, both Qualicum College 1st XV and University School 2nd XV were held to draws and things began to look brighter. For their final match against Qualicum once more, the team left with a definite aim to win the match and great was their joy when they did just that. It must be mentioned here and now that Qualicum College only began playing Rugby at the beginning of the term, having always played Soccer up to the present. We certainly appreciated being able to play them twice and look forward to many more enjoyable matches in the future. There were a number of encouraging signs on the team, the principal one being that the boys had started to play together and were consequently more formidable than they imagined. This is most encouraging for next season as there will be many gaps in the ranks of the 1st XV to be filled. Waterman proved to be both a good captain and an active wing forward; and was well supported by Wearne, Robinson and Wilson 1. The two half-backs, Thee and Bellm 2, played intelligently and this augers well for next season. Of the three-quarters, Chadwick, in the centre, was excellent and only the fact that we already had two good centres on the 1st XV kept him off the side. Wright and Berry proved themselves to be more than adequate on the wings. Eastman too showed up well in his few appearances. Harrison 1, at full-back, was first rate, his fearless tackling and falling being a good example to the rest of the team. His kicking, however, for a full-back, is woefully weak and it is more by good luck than good judgment if a punt goes where he intended it to go. COLTS XV The Colts too had their promising spots and produced one or two good players, while several others, though in reality just beginners, showed definite promise. Of the three matches played, St. George ' s Colts were beaten and the two remaining matches against University School were both lost. Clark showed himself to be a keen and energetic captain and a good leader of the forwards. Hamilton turned out to be a grand forward, the tougher the sledding, the better he liked it. 19