Rugby pitch or football field, it doesn鈥檛 matter.
Mason Swift is just that good on either.
The two-way Grade 12 Mount Douglas Rams running-back and linebacker is headed to play CIS football next fall for the University of Guelph Gryphons. But if he ever wants to ditch his CFL/NFL dreams and switch sports, many are saying he has the potential to be a Canadian national team rugby player and overseas pro.
That鈥檚 heady praise as the six-foot, 215-pound battering-Ram Swift leads upstart Mount Douglas into the 2013 Howard Russell Cup Lower Island triple-A high school final today against the Oak Bay Barbs at 3:15 p.m. on the Oak Bay school fields.
鈥淢ason is the best high school rugby player I鈥檝e seen on the Lower Island in my eight years of coaching [five at Vic High and two at Reynolds],鈥� said first-year Rams head coach Matt Staples.
鈥淗e is amazingly powerful and already stronger than many sa国际传媒 Premier League players. He is terrifically gifted and can stiff arm and run after contact. And his tackling is destructive. I believe he could eventually make the national team.鈥�
Oak Bay head coach Murray Allen concurs.
鈥淪wift could go places in rugby,鈥� said Allen.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 saying something, considering all the great Canadian national team players that have come from the Island.鈥�
But even with Swift, the Rams realize they are going to need a huge upset today. Then again, upsets have been the theme of the week in this province, starting in the sport called politics. Maybe it鈥檒l spill over onto the rugby pitch as Mount Douglas attempts to become the first team other than Oak Bay or St. Michaels University School to win the Howard Russell Cup since Spectrum in 1988.
As it is, the Rams are the first team other than Oak Bay or SMUS to reach the Cup final since the Stelly鈥檚 Stingers lost to SMUS in 1991.
The Rams defeated the Claremont Spartans in this year鈥檚 semifinals, while Oak Bay 鈥� led by captain and Under-18 Hong Kong and Las Vegas Sevens medallist Evan Cambridge 鈥� got past the Reynolds Roadrunners.
Mount Douglas鈥檚 rise in rugby is directly attributable to the influx of 18 players, including Swift, from the school鈥檚 two-time defending sa国际传媒 triple-A high school champion football team. Other of the Rams football-turned-rugby players of note include Sasha Shurvin and Archie Acosta.
鈥淎 lot of the individual skill sets are transferable between the two sports,鈥� said Staples.
Oak Bay is ranked eighth in the province in the triple-A rugby top-10 and Mount Douglas is an honourable mention. The four-time defending sa国际传媒 champion Shawnigan Lake Stags are again the cream of the Island and ranked No. 2 in the province behind top-rated St. George鈥檚 of Vancouver.
SMUS went to double-A this season, because of school numbers, and the provincially fourth-ranked Blue Jags will meet the Glenlyon Norfolk Gryphons in the Lower Island Colonel Jack Hodgkins Cup final today at 4:30 p.m., also at the Oak Bay fields.
GNS defeated the Esquimalt Dockers, while SMUS knocked off Edward Milne in the double-A semifinals.
The provincial playdowns in both triple-A and double-A begin May 25.
