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

Page 19 text:

M mm . ' % . ' ■ ' ' ■ ' ■■■ ■ ' ' WzmMiMgm? M:-% 9itmM% «T A - ?

Page 18 text:

poorly nor were they ever outplayed. They were particu- larly effective in the set scrummage where, packing tight and low, they timed their snap shove well and drove many an opposing pack briskly backwards. Their work in the loose was first rate, especially their mauling, and in the open play their support in attack and their pressure in defence were also excellent. Only in the lineout did they sometimes come off second best, but even here not too often. Yes, altogether a very fine pack! It would be rather unfair as well as difficult, to single out any individual for special praise as each of them took turns in having out- standing games. It was only at one of the flanker positions that things were slightly unsettled as both Roberto Dras- sinower and Gino Anderson laid about equal claim to the position. However, after much jockeying back and forth, Gino just won the nod. The other two members of the back row were David Coalman on the other flank and Doug Torrie at number 8. John Martin and Phil Offereins supp- lied the power in the second row and the very solid front row consisted of Eddie Evans hooking between David Davies and Bart Lawrence. Everyone of these forwards scored at least one try. The backs were not, unfortunately, quite in the same class, hard as they tried and although they played very well at times, there were too many lapses in concentration for any real consistency or confidence to develop. In attack they all ran well but in defence their positioning was often faulty with the inevitable drastic results. Nevertheless the tac- kling, both individually and collectively was good despite these positional shortcomings. After some experimentation Stephen Southerland won over Gordon Penley for the scrum-half position. He com- bined well with Marc Jinnouchi at fly-half with the latter developing very well towards the end of the season in this very difficult tactical position. Michael Gillies, the captain, was the anchor in the centre and he played very steadily especially at the start of the season when his confident play had a calming effect on what was otherwise an easily rattled group of inexperienced backs. The other centre position was shared between Page Tucker and Charles Crossfield, both of whom are good players but each of whom must learn to time the giving and taking of the pass better, something that Gillies did very well. The wings, Michael Nimmo and Reider Eidsvik were both good, the former being particularly strong on defence, where he brought off a number of try-saving tackles and the latter, with his clever running and opportunistic play being our top scorer with 13 tries. Behind them all was the dependable Dean John- ston, enterprising in attack and safe in defence. As so often occurs with backs however, the season was too short for them to develop the kind of cohesiveness that only playing a large number of matches together produces. They were just beginning to show signs of playing as a real unit when the season came to an end. In retrospect then, this side did much better than expected and entertained us with some very good open rugby. D.W. Hyde-Lay 14

Page 20 text:

THE SECOND XV Back Row: Mr. Hyde-Lay (Coach), J. Keate, D. Roskell, E. Meyer, ]. Connolly, P. McKenzie, S. Gault, D. Hyde-Lay Middle Row: R. Dyson, R. Drassinower, G. Penley, D. Constable (Captain), R. Goody, C. Kelman, J. Smith Front Row: R. Cooke, A. Forster The 2nd XV were a very workmanlike side and, like their elders in the 1st XV, were stronger at forward than in the backs. Practising against the 1st XV pack enabled the 2nd XV forwards to develop their basic skills rather well, merely in order to survive. A number of very good forwards thus emerged; Roberto Drassinower, who played several times for the 1st XV; Redmond Goody, the hooker; Cameron Kelman at prop and Evan Meyer in the back row in particular. The backs, again like their counterparts in the firsts, had some good days and some not so good. Consis- tency in their play was lacking, and one or two key injuries; to Danny Constable, the captain, and David Hyde-Lay at full back necessitated some shuffling with the usual unset- tling effects this normally entails. Gordon Penley, when not called upon to play in the 1st XV played well and Charles Crossfield ' s strong running finally earned him a well deserved promotion. Both St. Michael ' s games were won; the St. George ' s matches were split, each school winning at home, while we lost the two Brentwood matches very narrowly. There was, in fact, very little to choose between Brentwood, St. George ' s and ourselves and the general standard of play amongst the schools was higher than usual. We split our matches with Cowichan Senior Secondary 1st XV and defeated Cariboo Hill and Oak Bay. The team was better than the record indicated, but allowed one or two victories to slide into defeat with some last moment faux pas. Unlike the past three or four years, we appear to have a fairly large number of players, some of them very good ones, returning from this year ' s 1st and 2nd XVs and there are even whispers of a rugby tour in the offing next season -- I wonder! D.W. Hyde-Lay 16