UVic 36
CASTAWAYS 22
The sports adage is 鈥渃lub to country.鈥� But international events don鈥檛 last long, so the reverse term 鈥渃ountry to club鈥� holds just as true.
National team rugby players have begun filtering back from the 2015 World Cup.
This month, Ray Barkwill acquitted himself well as starting hooker in three games for sa国际传媒 before crowds of between 30,000 to 70,000 in the World Cup.
Only a few hundred lined the sidelines on Saturday at Windsor Park as Barkwill and his Castaway Wanderers were beaten 36-22 in a sa国际传媒 Premier game by the University of Victoria Vikes, another team that contributed several players to sa国际传媒 at the World Cup.
Barkwill admitted there was a lot of 鈥渟oul searching鈥� after sa国际传媒 lost all four of its World Cup group games played in the U.K. But three of those games could have gone either way, including against mighty France.
鈥淎fter that game, the [fully professional] French players said: 鈥榊ou guys are good and really pushed us. Where do you play?鈥� 鈥� recalled Barkwill.
The 35-year-old native of Niagara Falls, Ont., could have responded that, as sa国际传媒 lacks a pro league, he plays against carpenters and accountants in the sa国际传媒 Premiership. (A handful of Canadian players, however, play pro overseas).
鈥淐astaway Wanderers have been great in developing representative players, as have the other Island teams, but a lot of these young Canadian players will need a pro league in which to develop and gain opportunities,鈥� Barkwill said.
At the international level, Barkwill believes sa国际传媒 could have closed the deal in many of the close Test and World Cup matches it lost this year if it had the opportunity to play more Tier 1 nations.
鈥淜ieran [Canadian head coach Kieran Crowley] and his staff did a great job of getting us ready. But we need to play more games against the top nations,鈥� Barkwill said.
Castaway Wanderers captain Riley Ilnicki said he was proud watching CW products such as Barkwill, Nanyak Dala, Ciaran Hearn, Hubert Buydens, Jebb Sinclair and brother Jake Ilnicki play in the World Cup.
鈥淲e have a lot of new faces this year on CW, and one of the biggest benefits of our club is that our younger players get to be inspired by internationals such as that,鈥� said Riley, the younger of the Ilnicki brothers from Williams Lake, who first came through the UVic Vikes program. 鈥淭hat provides tremendous motivation.鈥�
In the other Premiership game played on the Island on Saturday, James Bay defeated the Westshore Valhallians 41-5.
The results left UVic at 5-0, CW 3-2, James Bay 2-3 and the Valhallians 0-5. UVic plays the Valhallians and CW meets James Bay next Saturday.
The top-two teams after the Island round-robin portion will advance to the Barnard Cup final.
The top-three Island teams will move on to sa国际传媒 Premiership play in January, with the fourth-place finisher relegated to the sa国际传媒 Division 1.
