Yorkshire Terriers

Duthie x 5 - 25 points
Hart x 5 - 25 points
Terrett x 5 - 25 points
M Perkins x 3 - 15 points
Hebditch x 2 - 10 points
Jones x 2 - 10 points

Abbott, Aikman, Altham, Burrows, Chamberlain, Connor, Inness, Johnson, T Perkins, Shepherd, Slingsby and Young all have 1 try apiece.

After a relatively quiet night exploring central Vancouver, the Terriers were up and raring to go as it was time for the final training session of the tour ahead of what was guaranteed to be the toughest game of the trip. Whilst these promises had been heard before, this time we were assured of a very competitive game - and that assurance proved to be correct.
Once the 3 hour training session at the Capilano Rugby Club in northern Vancouver had finished a free afternoon was available to the group. Most enjoyed a quiet lunch before heading to Robson Street and the shopping district to start the appropriate gift shopping in order to start thanking some of the people who helped make the trip possible.
As tomorrow is match day, again it was a quiet night in at the hotel watching movies and relaxing ahead of the final fixture vs Capilano tomorrow.

This morning saw the squad enjoy a much needed lie-in following another handsome victory and a good night of celebration. At about 11am the tour party checked out of the Queen Victoria Hotel, with some regret as many had enjoyed the town a great deal - the friendly locals, laid back pace and excellent array of bars & restaurants were going to be missed as The Terriers headed to the big city!
After boarding the ferry to Vancouver it was time for some internal competition - at the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet! Almost all the players and a few of the management & coaching staff made their way to the Pacific Lounge with the intention of eating for 90 minutes.
Sadly despite some sterling performances from Ryan 'Buzz' Burrows, Danny 'Hightower' Chamberlain and others, a quick start soon put paid to a number of the squad - some even having to find a quiet corner and sleep off the effects. Experience soon told as the last men eating were some of the more mature members of the travelling group. All of this did mean that the planned group dinner that evening needed to be postponed and that the Howard Johnson Hotel had a rather sleepy rugby group to deal with on check-in. That evening, after a couple hours of much needed rest it was time for the group to explore their surroundings in the heart of Vancouver.

The Terriers entered their 3rd fixture against Crimson Tide expecting a hard game against a side billed as 'one of the best in Canada'. Unfortunately the game game did not live up to expectations. as in the previous games, the Terriers found themselves 14-0 up after only a few minutes. From the kick-off Crimson tide returned the ball straight into touch, James Craig caught a good line out and from a short pass Dan Hart strode through to score under the posts, Jon West converting. Straight from the following kick off, a scrum resulted in the ball finding its way to Harry Duthie who ghosted through the defence from full-back, again West added the extra 2 points.
The visiting forwards were now dominating with several driving mauls making good yardage. From a line out 10m from the hosts line, Dan Chamberlain caught clean ball and Will Shepherd stormed through the midfield only to be held just short. Dan Hart finished things off from a yard out. Jon West made no mistake with the conversion.

Driving mauls were now becoming a much-used weapon, one sent Crimson Tide back 40m from the Terriers 22 and resulted in Mark Perkins scoring his 3rd try of the tour. The onslaught continued after a failed conversion and after 17 mins the score moved to 31-0 as Matt Terrett made a 40m break before unselfishly off-loading to Dan Hart for his hat-trick. Five minutes later, a poor 22 drop-out by the home side was taken by Dan Chamberlain, who stormed through and then passed to AJ Connor for the openside to score in the corner. Jon West resumed his successful kicking after two misses.
On the stroke of half-time, John Aikman scored a short-range try to the delight of his watching family, who had made the trip for the last 2 games of the tour. Jon West took the interval score to 45-0 in a half totally dominated by the touring side.

After making a number of changes at the break, the new Terriers started the second half with same purpose - total domination. The forwards continued to dominate with several thundering runs before Tom Hebditch hit a short pass from Greg Moore on a great angle. This took him through the first line of defence before stepping the full-back to score under the sticks from 35m out. Moore added the extras. The Tide began to show a little more resilience in defence and held for longer than any other period in the match before Matt Terrett forced his way over in the left corner, Moore knocked over an excellent conversion to take the score to 59-0 Within 2 minutes, the Terriers made it 66-0, Moore making a beautiful break, offloading to Ben Inness who in turn gave the scoring pass to hooker Tom Young. Greg Johnson then scored an excellent individual try using pace and strength to race in from 30m out The referee blew up early (to save the hosts from a bigger pasting??) and did not even allow the final conversion so the score remained at 71-0. Although this match was unsatisfactory in many ways, as all had expected it to be the toughest fixture of the tour well before the Terriers travelled, at least the tourists can go into the final game against Capilano with the record - Played 3, Won 3, 218 for, 0 against

An eager group of both management and squad members gathered in the hotel lobby after breakfast to make the short walk down to the harbour to prepare for the whale watching expedition. Once all were dressed in the warming floatation suits (a few 'special' suits had to be borrowed from elsewhere for the more mature members of the tour party) it was down to the boats in each group of 10-12...
Once underway the boats made good time travelling up the beautiful coastline of Victoria and Vancouver Island to the outlying islands approx 45 miles away, even crossing into US Waters.
About an hour into the trip the engines were cut and a brief description of what to expect was delivered by the guide - there are 3 pods of Orca in the area, J, K & L. We were watching 2 of these travelling in search of food and could expect to see approx. 45 animals over the next hour or so.
The next 60 minutes passed differently for each boat - some were fortunate to be as close as 20-30 metres from surfacing animals, some were able to see some spectacular leaps while others were a little further from the action. This was all necessary in an effort to disrupt the animals as little as possible and allow to take their own course. Obviously this meant some boats (including WestCoast1 containing Danny Collins, Liam Sharpe, Ben Innes, AJ Connor, James Maycock, Greg Johnson & Richard Jones as well as the tour diarist Adrian 'Cloggy' Gilbert) had fantastic views and returned exhilerated whilst others were left a little disappointed. However all agreed it was worth the time and everyone, even a nervous Peter Altham, enjoyed the boat trips in the speedy little Zodiacs.
After lunch, it was time to soak up the sun again, with the balcony of room 103 drawing an even larger crowd than previously. Although many thought the tanning oil a touch too far! The evening saw the vast majority of the tour group head to the cinema for The Simpson Movie, as despite it being Friday night, tomorrow was match day.

Tries Points

Duthie x 4 20
Terrett x 4 20
M Perkins x 2 10
Hart x 2 10
Jones x 2 10

Abbott, Altham, Burrows, Chamberlain, Hebditch, Innes, T Perkins, Shepherd, Slingsby all have 1 try each.


Goal Kicking

Moore 9 Conversions 18 points
West 6 Conversions 12 points
Hart 1 Conversion 2 points

Total Points for: 147; Against: 0

Played 2 Won 2 Lost 0

Again this morning saw a training session arranged for the squad. Whilst the matches had been one-sided so far, previous experience meant the coaches were watching out for Crimson Tide, this weekend's opponents. The session was much closer to the hotel, taking place at James Bay RFC in McDonald Park a 15 minutes stroll from the accommodation.
Once the boys had been put through their paces the afternoon was once again free. This time, following local advice, a sizeable section of the group made their may to lake Thetis and the beach there to soak up the rays. The usual accompaniments of frisbie and rugby ball were taken.
Some of the more adventurous made their way through one of the forest paths to a clearing where they joined locals in leaping into the water and swimming back to shore. Some were able to deal with the heights much better than others....The evening was similar to those previous, a good meal in downtown Victoria, a quiet drink or two and then back to the hotel for some rest as tomorrow was one of the most eagerly anticipated of the tour - a boat trip up the coast to see killer whales in their natural environment

This morning saw the boys ferried out to the Velox Field at the University of Victoria for a hard contact session ahead of the match at the same venue on Saturday. After over 2 hours of strenuous activity the bus arrived to return everyone to the Queen Victoria Hotel.
The rest of the afternoon was free with many wandering to the harbour for a bite to eat and more sightseeing. The vain element of the group stayed at the hotel, taking advantage of two balconies at the front of the building to soak up some rays in an effort to look better for when they return home to their girlfriends.....

This morning saw the group enjoy a lie-in before walking to the park for a very competitive 90 minutes of touch rugby in blazing sunshine. Sometimes it got heated and very personal before a calming influence in the form of a neutral referee arrived to oversee the final 30 minutes without incident.
The tournament saw forwards coaches Ian Spencer and Craig West on the bottom placed side at the end of the morning's rugby. After lunch many took the opportunity to look round the picturesque harbour, move away from the red meat diet and onto the seafood and start souvenir hunting.
The evening saw groups head to a local bar for dinner and a couple of drinks before returning ready for tomorrow's training, the first of 2 or 3 session ahead of the big game vs Crimson Tide. A fixture beginning to gain importance for the Terriers as the locals express their interest at every turn.

Today saw the tour group on board the coach at 09:00 ready to make the 450km trek to Vancouver Island. Many of the boys had purchased DVDs to help the journey pass much quicker and the bus enjoyed both Casino Royale and Rocky Balboa before boarding the ferry.

All bar Mark Perkins, who having recovered from the savage hiding handed out to him by a young girl in a Canadian version of WH Smith, had laid his hands on Harry Potter and proceeded to read it from cover to cover in as little time as possible....

On arrival into the beautiful and peaceful city of Victoria the boys made dinner plans before returning to the hotel eager to be fresh for a day of sightseeing.

Today was a very quiet day for the tour group. The morning saw group rehab in the hotel pool followed by a debrief meeting for the players after yesterday's game.

Once that was over the afternoon was free with some of the management hitting the golf course or a local vineyard. Some of the boys spent time with relatives and family friends in the area while many ventured into Kelowna or lazed by the pool.

The early evening saw the second court case of the tour, with punishments and fines increasing in the severity as lessons had not been learned. It was also the first time that many of the tour committee were hauled before Judge Kester and they did not receive any leniency!

However the person most fearing the next court case is Peter Altham who missed the whole session as he slept peacefully in his room - he might not rest so easily the night before our next arrainment!

Following court and dinner many packed their bags in preparation of tomorrow's journey to Victoria, on Vancouver Island.

The 2nd match of the tour versus Okanagan Valley U19s saw the Terriers determined to build on their good win over Alberta..
Starting well with a changed starting XV, the Terriers kicked off on a warm afternoon in Kelowna and waited only 2 minutes before their first score. From a kick ahead by scrum-half Matt Hargreaves, Okanagan fumbled the ball and from the resulting scrum, Jones took a short pass to burst through under the sticks. Greg Moore added the extras. A repeat of the same move a few minutes later saw the other centre, Tom Hebditch take the short pass to cross, again the conversion was added.
Okanagan managed to recover from their poor start, making big tackles, disrupting Terriers play and helping the play flow from end to end. Something special was needed to break the deadlock and re-establish pressure - after 20 minutes, Greg Moore took the ball on the halfway, made a break down the left before offloading inside to the supporting Matt Terrett who cruised in from the 22. It was fitting that Moore added the conversion, taking the score to 21-0.
Terriers then continued to probe for the killing score, which came on the stroke of half-time. A turn over from a ruck saw the tourists quickly send the ball to Terret who finished the simple move and score his 4th try of the tour. Moore was unable to add a difficult conversion.

Yorkshire Terriers started the 2nd half in the same fashion as they started the first. Two minutes after the interval, the forward made territory down the left and Ben Innes was the benefactor from a pick and go on the hosts line. Moore added an excellent conversion to make it 33-0. Okanagan, like Alberta before them, refused to give up and a dropped Terriers ball saw the home side race downfield with a try seeming certain before a last ditch tackle halted the momentum.
With players understandably tiring in the heat, the visitors made several substitions that proved to take the game well and truly out of reach. As play approached the final quarter, a short pass taken by Harry Duthie, on for Steven Slingsby at full-back, and he raced through the defence from half-way, breaking several tackles en route to the tryline. Moore continued his good form from the kicking tee to add the extras
The Terriers forwards were completely on top and three quick tries came in 4 minutes. The first from a scrum on the half-way where a blind-side break saw Terrett make yards and then give an inside pass to Tom Perkins to score. Two minutes later, another turnover saw good inter-play between backs and forwards, leading to a try for Matt Abbott. Greg Moore reliable as ever added both conversions.
Almost straight from the kick-off, Ryan Burrows broke through the Okanagan line. Steve Slingsby, returning to the pitch due to an injury, picked an excellent support line and took the offload to score. Moore added his 8th conversion of the game to make it 61-0 to the visitors.
As the final whistle loomed, it was only fitting that Harry Duthie used his pace from 15 top score the final try. Although Moore, for once, failed to knock the ball over to add the 2 points.
This 66-0 victory gave the Terriers good heart for the next fixture, expected to the toughest of the entire tour, versus Crimson Tide on Vancouver Island.

Footnote: Mark Perkins forehead cut was not the result of the match but was inflicted by a 5 yr old girl in the bookstore prior to the game. Mark lost the battle for the last copy of the latest Harry Potter novel. He is recovering well although his pride has taken a huge dent....

After breakfast it was time to start the preparation for tomorrow's second fixture against Kelowna Rugby Club. The bus arrived to take everyone to Parkinson Rec Centre for hard session on the training paddock as the coaches Alan Secker & Craig West put forwards and backs through their paces in an effort to get everyone switched on for the game.

After the training session there was a free afternoon to explore the town, relax in the pool and generally take things easy. In the evening the tour management made their way to a friend of Alan Warriner for a fantastic barbecue and the opportunity to bend the ear of the referee the night before the game!!

This morning saw the boys gather in the hotel reception excited by the thought of a half-day rafting the rapids of the Kicking Horse. Although there were a few notable exceptions as some arrived with an element of trepidation, especially Tom Hebditch!

Once everyone was kitted out in wetsuit and life-jacket it was time to make our way to the start of the course, 25km away. Here, after the very amusing safety talk from one of the guides, the group were split into boats and sent out on the river.

The nerves soon disappeared as all began to enjoy themselves, with many opting to jump in the river at quiet moments in the river and a number of 'pirate' attacks on fellow Terrier boats. Sadly we were only able to enjoy a morning on the river as we had to travel on to Kelowna in the afternoon, disappointing the majority of the squad.

On arrival in Kelowna that evening, after settling in the rooms a good mixture of tour management and players made their way to a local bar to enjoy pool, food, karaoke and banter with the locals!