The High School squad successfully out manoevered the US Border Control to register an
impressive win against Chuckanut Bay Rugby Club. We were were warmly welcomed by our hosts
before the game and shown to our changing rooms/Portacabins. Mr. FitzGerald had assumed he
had returned home to Garnock. However, the warmth in the air was the giveaway that he hadn't.

The opposition were big and strong and also looked very slick during their warm up. There was
a vocal local support and the local press photographer also turned up. Good photos can be
found at www.bellinghamherald.com/sports/

The High School got into their stride the quickest with Robbie Hirst scoring a try after
Scott Fraser had taken a quick tap and linked well with Murray Cubie before giving the ball
to Robbie in the 5th minute. Sam Greenock converted. The hosts came back into the game after
19 minutes due to some weak High School tackling. The lead was restored again when Scott
Fraser kicked ahead and the Chuckanut defence were left all at sea when Rory Taylor strolled
in after 27 minutes. Sam converted again. The offside lines were disappearing and High School
were unable to keep control of the game. The hosts got back into the game through charging
down a clearance kick  with a few minutes to go before half time. According to the referee
the Chuckanut player touched the ball down before it bounced over the dead ball line, much to
the astonishment of the tourists and the actual "try scorer". The conversion was made and the
score at half time was 14-14.

A rallying team talk at half time from Mr. Brown and Mr. Barrett about how to keep our
discipline and where to play the game seemed to do the job. The job was made a bit easier
when one of the Chuckanut forwards was given his marching orders after tripping Sam Greenock
after his kick ahead. Euan Bell kicked a penalty after Chuckanut were offside at a ruck after
18 minutes of the second half. When Murray Cubie's quick thinking close to the line after
being awarded a penalty for the opposition not rolling away three minutes later the tide was
starting to turn. Euan added the extras. Murray was on fire and a four minutes later he
picked up a poor clearance kick and ran it back in to make the score 29-14. With a few
minutes remaining another poor defensive kick from the Chuckanut players allowed Richard
Murray to gather and make good ground before off loading to Cammy Crozier who galloped over
for our final try of the game which Euan again converted. Chuckanut managed a consolation
score just before the final whistle and made the final score 36-21 to the High School.

The hospitality after the game was first rate and the club where very welcoming. However, we
were not staying for long as we had to get back into Canada and catch the ferry to Vancouver
Island for our next stop.

This article was posted on 6-Apr-2010, 21:22 by Hugh Barrow.