From the Manager's Desk - October 5th, 2014

It is early days as we have just completed our first game in the CDI Premier League competition with a tremendous road win against Castaway Wanderers on the Island. As expected, we had a number of players missing through injury and four players attending the Rugby Canada U20 Camp at Shawnigan Lake School. Congratulations to Harjun Gill, Karsten Leitner, Andrew Coe and Phil Berna. Despite this and the absence of Charlie Thorpe, Jorden Sandover-Best, Connor Weyell and Sam Jeffries, all the travelling players performed competently and got both teams off to great starts in both the Premier and Ceili’s competitions.

The coaching staff showed great confidence in selecting a large number of first year players to make this trip and the players rewarded them by playing with a poise and intensity beyond their years. As we move towards the home opener against Rowers on October 18th and then the Vikes game on October 25th, we can be cautiously optimistic about continuing to work on the processes that the staff have put in place. With Rowers having drawn its opening game with last year’s finalists in Burnaby, and with the Vikes winning against defending Rounsefell Cup champions James Bay, the players will certainly be aware of the task at hand and will remain grounded as they prepare over the next two weeks.

The support for each other within the Club is huge and the success on the Island was tempered with disappointment when we heard of the Totems’ loss in Kamloops. Everyone will be working hard to ensure that all our teams come out strong on the 18th. We are also looking forward to great support against Rowers and then against the Vikes from Family, Friends and Alumni. Get the word out to everyone: we want the stands and the field full for this great event. The players want your full support. We are all UBC Thunderbirds Rugby. Dave Brown Manager of UBC Rugby dave.brown@ubc.ca