The Martlet

The UVic men’s rugby team needs a little luck to keep their playoff hopes alive this weekend.

Despite being seven points short of a playoff spot with one game left to play, the Vikes still have a game-in-hand over the Bayside Sharks, and will have their Canadian Sevens stars returning to their line-up for this weekend’s game against Capilano.

It’s a tall order, but if either sixth-place Bayside or fifth-place Castaway Wanderers drop points this weekend, or the Sharks fail to capture a bonus point, the UVic side could just make it into this year’s Canadian Direct Insurance (CDI) Premier League playoffs.

Before the Vikes look to the rugby gods for some luck in terms of standings, they will first have to get past a ruthless and undefeated Capilano.

The mainland side has posted an impressive 9-0-1 record this season, and sits on top of the standings with 46 points.

It’s been a tough season for the Vikes as they struggled to take on the top sides and failed to capture key bonus points against weaker sides like Burnaby.

“We got ourselves in our own mess,” UVic coach Doug Tate said after the game. “We didn’t come away with our own bonus points … with that sort of thing, you’re going to pay for it.”

Things didn’t get much better for the Vikes on Saturday, March 28, when they travelled across town to take on their arch rivals, James Bay.

Despite leading 11-3 at half time through Kyle Buckley’s try and Nathan Hirayama’s penalty conversions, the Vikes fell 33-23 to the home side.

After carrying much of the momentum and asserting themselves at the breakdown, UVic captain Andrew Tiedemann was sent to the bin and James Bay unleashed a series of three try-scoring runs.

The yellow card was a questionable call that Vikes’ coach Doug Tate said was a large determining factor in the score line.

“I think it killed us momentum wise. We’re in the second half and boom — yellow card and we’re going downhill,” Tate said. “It was a big momentum shift for them, and you’ve got to give them credit, I mean, they used it. That hurt us big time, there’s no question.”

The Vikes did respond as Ben Grant intercepted a long pass to narrow the score line 25-18. But Jeff Williams and former UVic star Dave Moonlight combined for another eight points to put the game out reach for the Vikes.

UVic’s Struan Robertson would touch down in the dying seconds to make it 33-23, but the damage was done as the Vikes are now winless in their past five matches.

With their playoff hopes now thinner than ever, the Vikes will welcome back their powerful forwards with open arms as Adam Kleeberger, Neil Meechan and John Moonlight suit up. Their backline will be reinforced as they welcome back Gordie Sawers and Sean Duke to the line-up as they take on Capilano, the most lethal team in the 2009 CDI Premier League on Saturday, April 4, at Wallace Field.