The Bow Valley Rugby Club contingent that left to play in the sweltering heat of Toronto at the Canadian Rugby Championship has returned with medals.
Brennan Bourchier, Austin Dixon, Craig de la Mare, Brandon Mangold, and Rylen Waugh were part of the under-18 Prairie Wolfpack side which went to the games and were coached by Bow Valley Grizzlies player/coach Tyler Hawes.
The team had a tough opener against British Columbia losing 34-0 before bouncing back with a 48-0 win over the Atlantic team.
The Wolfpack then overcame a tough game against Quebec, 24-12, on Aug. 19, before losing a heartbreaker 17-16 to Ontario, which would have given them the silver medal.
“We played really well apart from our first game,” Hawes said. “That was by far our toughest game, but we improved throughout the week.
“It would have been nice to play that game against B.C. at the end, because the boys improved steadily throughout the tournament and would have lit it up.”
Hawes was also pleased that three of the Bow Valley players (Bourchier, Mangold, and Waugh) were selected as starters.
“That was good,” he said. “It’s nice to see guys from our club doing well and playing good rugby.
“I hope all kids who came from Cochrane had a good experience.”
Two of the Bow Valley players (Oscar Holbrough and Isaiah Springer) that were on the Alberta under-16 team had a strong showing as their team took home silver after losing the gold medal game 31-24 against B.C.
They had previously lost their opener to B.C. 15-10 on Aug. 16, and 26-17 to Ont. on the same day, before smashing B.C two games in a row (12-5, 47-0) and beating Ont. 19-1 on Aug. 20.
The under-16 Alberta female side also did their province proud, bagging a bronze medal after smashing New Brunswick 66-0.
The team lost their opening fixture 44-10 to B.C., before pummeling N.B. 80-5 on Aug. 17, and losing back-to-back games against the Ontario Storm (24-20, 22-15).
Cochranite AJ Mears played in three of the five games, scoring a couple of tries.
The players now have a couple months break before training begins in the winter for next year’s season.
