Otago Rugby Club will be taking to Cranberry Field on April 6 to play rugby players from Vancouver Island.
Otago coach Jack Beardmore said it will be an old boys/seniors game.
“The first half is going to be old boys and father/sons, and then the second half is going to be the senior team playing,” said Beardmore. “It will be full-on rugby in the second half and probably uncontested scrums and old boy rules in the first half.”
Opposition will be members from Vancouver Island Ebb Tide and the Victoria-area Castaways.
“They’ve got a pile of guys together,” said Beardmore, adding that he played for the Ebb Tide for 18 years. He said he travelled with the team to Japan three times. The Vancouver Island rep team is called the Crimson Tide and most of the original Ebb Tide players all had played with the Crimson Tide or for British Columbia, and quite a few had played for Canada.
“They got older and said they still wanted to play, so they decided to play under the Tide name, but they were on the old-age side going out, so they called themselves the Ebb Tide,” said Beardmore. “They are the second oldest rugby team in British Columbia. Only the Evergreens are older, and only by a year.”
The Evergreens are from Vancouver.
Beardmore said the Ebb Tide have an immense relationship with Japanese rugby clubs. Beardmore said he has been to Japan 10 times, including thrice with the Ebb Tide, once with Saratoga Rugby Club from the North Island, and once he formed a team called the BC Over-50 Selects, featuring some national-calibre players and BC players.
“I was president and captain of that side,” said Beardmore.
He also travelled to Japan to witness the rugby world cup four years ago. As a result of his Japanese affiliations, Beardmore is sending four invitations to members of the Osaka Gentleman’s Rugby Club for Otago’s 50th anniversary in 2025 for them to attend the special celebration.
Kickoff for the April 6 game will be at 1 pm.
Join the Peak's email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
