The Bow Valley Grizzlies want to fatten up their record before the fall season begins.
Fighting an up-and-down record in their first summer of Calgary Rugby Union Second Division men’s play, Grizz have one final tuneup before the playoff season kicks off.
Grizz (7-4) tackle Irish (2-9) Aug. 29, noon kick, at Mitford Pond rugby pitch. Bow Valley schooled Irish 45-17 last month in Calgary.
But there are no gimmes in rugby.
No one knows this better than Grizzlies lock (second row) Martin Carew. An English rugby veteran (Plymouth Albion and Hull Ionians), Carew takes nothing for granted in the gentlemen’s game.
Case in point: Grizzlies lost 29-26 at Red Deer May 30 before avenging the loss in a 24-10 Aug. 15 win in Cochrane.
“When we went up to Titans, we narrowly lost up there. We determined to make sure we won here,” Carew said. “For the first 15-20 minutes we certainly came out with all guns blazing. Titans started to turn it on a bit. There was disarray going on within our team but we had it on for the win.”
Like Grizzlies getting one back from Titans, Irish will be looking to do the same to Grizzlies.
Bow Valley will have to beware.
“This is something we’re going to look at training,” Carew said. “We’ll have a look at the lineups and the moves we’re using and general tactics and strategy and get it tidied up.”
To that end, Grizzlies are training hard this week in preparation for their final regular-season game and looking ahead to the playoffs. Grizzlies are third in CRU Second Division men’s standings heading into their Saturday fixture against Irish.
There will always be room for improvement, and Carew is doing his part to help player/coach Ty Hawes with the process.
“Doing my best to put in some new ideas as well. Ty comes with a lot of experience, too,” Carew said. “Certainly, between the two of us and the rest of the team, we’re putting some things together. We’re third in the league in our first season up in Div. 2. We’re doing really well. We had a bit of a lull towards the beginning of the season where we threw away a couple of games. But we got ourselves together and we’ve come a long way since then.”
Fly half Ollie Mayo is clear describing where he wants Grizzlies to go this season: “If we get everyone to practice, we could take it all the way.”
But first, Grizz have Irish in front of them Aug. 29, noon kick, Mitford Pond rugby pitch in Cochrane.
