High school rugby enthusiasts can usually rely on the between the Oak Bay Barbarians and St. Michaels University School Blue Jags as a barometer. Not so for this year.
It was assumed that the boot champion Barbarians, seeded second in the province going into last weekB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s AAA rugby provincials, would succeed the seventh-ranked Blue Jags in the final standings.
Instead, it was the Blue Jags upsetting the Barbs in a 29-24 win in the quarterfinals of the AAA provincials on May 30, hosted in Abbotsford.
The Blue Jags went on to lose to No. 3-ranked Carson Graham, 44-13, in Thursday's (May 31) semifinals, then lost 22-5 to St. GeorgeB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s in the bronze medal game.
But fourth is a much better outcome than St. Mikes was picked for. And though in the end it was only one spot ahead of the Barbarians, itB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s an elbow into the ribs of Oak Bay.
The Barbs cleared out the Claremont Spartans one, 41-5, and rebounded from the St. Mikes loss to win to trounce No. 11-seed Handsworth 22-3. The Barbs then edged No. 5 seed Earl Marriot 17-15 to complete the march up to fifth place.
Claremont struggled in the tourney, taking home the wooden spoon (awarded to the last-place team), while the Shawnigan Lake Stags won the AAA title, crushing their opponents with a total combined score of 184 to 18.
In the AA bracket the Glenlyon Norfolk Gryphons reached the semifinals but lost 23-8 to eventual winners Collingwood (West Vancouver). Esquimalt Dockers avoided the AA wooden spoon, drubbing Caledonia 32-5 for 15th place.
Peter Harrison of St. Mikes, Thomas Mirmotahari of Oak Bay and Lachlan Polson of Claremont made the AAA CommissionerB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s top XV. Fergus Hall of Glenlyon Norfolk was named to the AA CommissionerB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s XV.