Bow Valley Grizzlies scrum half, Ian Ames, gets his hands on the ball a lot.
Tasked with plucking the ball from scrums and rucks, it’s Ames’s job to either take off with the ball or determine where to distribute it.
Options are good.
“It’s great,” Ames said following Bow Valley’s 45-17 Calgary Rugby Union Second Division men’s victory over Calgary Canadian Irish Athletic Club in northeast Calgary on July 18. “Especially with the boys up front. Getting over, rucking over hard and getting a clean ball to me, then I can look back and visualize.”
Looking down the line, he likes what he sees.
“Ollie and Ben Mayo, those boys are a huge addition to our centres. And we have so many weapons on the outside with James (Patterson) and Dave (Evans) in the back. It’s unreal,” Ames said of the Cochrane-based Grizzlies’ arsenal. “The boys outside, those big weapons, really open it up on the inside for me. Allowing me to see holes and take advantage.
“But it’s really the weapons out back. It’s like going to war with the U.S. military. We have everything.”
And Ames used everything at his disposal against Irish, with devastating success.
Cody Snoxell, Connor Gilbert (2), Mackenzie Tivendale, Dave Evans, Oliver Mayo, and player/coach Ty Hawes all scored for Grizzlies at Irish.
Hawes was pleased with his team’s effort and execution in its fifth-straight league victory.
“Great phase play. It just looked really slick,” said Hawes following the July 18 Irish match. “Some sweet tries and tries off transition. It was all good.”
Defensive lineouts continue to give Grizzlies’ opponents fits. Brazen ball thefts from the opposition’s set plays are becoming common.
“The boys, Mac (Tivendale) and Connor (Gilbert), really get up there and the guys lift them up quite well,” Ames explained. “There’s a lot of good work to get up there. They’re up fast and they get the ball back to us and then it’s ours on offence and it’s pedal to the metal again.
“It’s a lot more fun when we have the ball in hand. A lot more fun than playing defence.”
Grizzlies (6-3) get a two-week break in league play before resuming Aug. 8 in Calgary against Saracens.
Grizzlies fullback Dave Evans and blindside flanker Mackenzie Tivendale have both been retained by Alberta’s under-23-year-old development team for a western regional tournament being held in Saskatchewan July 24-26. Alberta contests a combined Manitoba/Saskatchewan team at the tourney to determine future rosters spots on the Prairie Region Wolf Pack men’s team.
