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The Ebb Tide Rugby Football Club is the oldest continuously operating Over-40 rugby club in British Columbia, Canada. We have active players between the ages of 38 and 70's and active social members well into their 80's.  Social members and visitors are welcome to join us at our regular Thursday evening run-around.  Ebb Tide is a member of the Pacific Northwest Over 40's Rugby Union.

Players are eligible to play at 38 years.

The Ebb Tide RFC newsletter is available for download below. Stay up to date with current news, events and tours happening within the club.

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May 4th welcomed the arrival of a boat load of the TWITS players. A touring side was returning from a cruise line while another 10 arrived from the mainland to bolster the ranks.  It made for some formidable numbers.  Ebb Tide players arrived in numbers also, being a normal practice day.

Despite warnings of thunder storms, the weather held up with just some light showers.  On this day, the TWITS seemed to hold onto the ball much better and showed more aggression going into contact.  They scored 4 times to the Ebb Tide 1 demonstrating some thunderous runs.  Ebb Tide try scored by Jim Jimmo during a moment of more direct go forward play.

Not the performance Ebb Tide hoped for the last regulation match.  Despite that, good fun was had by all back at the JBAA clubhouse.  Ebb Tide chose Casey, one of the backs, as their TWITS Man of the Match.  Jim Zosiak was chosen by the TWITS as their Man of the Match.  On the other hand, the coveted Red Jacket went to our illustrious JP Lussier who has played his last match with us (or has he?) as he will be moving to the Courtenay area this coming June.  Ebb Tide wishes all the best to him and his family.  A great servant to the club!

Fifteen road warriors, plus Bob Love as trainer, made the trip Sunday to Abbotsford. Spares were needed, but at least we started the game with a full squad! The Originals, as usual at home, fielded a strong team though didn’t have many on the bench.

Geoff left the game early with a torn calf, our first injury. Jamie Hannivan  followed shortly after with a broken collar bone, then John Romphf with a bad back. Abby was kind enough to lend a quality player but with their short bench we ended up 14 on 14, and finally 13 on 13. The opposition back line made good use of the extra space, running in 8 tries to our 2. Their “new guy who has never played rugby before” turned out to be an ex-CFL player. Ouch.

Scorers for Ebb Tide were Cobra and Deryl Townsend (our new prop from Fort Mac). Our red jacket went to Tim Walshaw for a great deal of high performance tackling out on the wing. The Originals selected either Deryl Townsend or Jay Jimmo as man of the match, some confusion there as they seemed surprised to find out that we had two “big bald props”.

The call for players was well answered as 30 players showed up for the game against the Snowcaps on Sunday. The Snowcaps showed why they are currently one of the strongest ones in league. They supported their players well and dominated the scrums and loose plays, thus leaving Ebb Tide on the defense for most of the game. Final score: Snowcaps 5 – Ebb Tide 2. Scorers: Lee Wakely and Dave Jack. Man of the match: Jim Zosiak.

It was a bright spring-like day on the 9th of April 2017. Several weeks prior, in a moment of brilliance it was decided to make the game a four-way seeing that 2 regulation games were about to be cancelled due to lack of numbers; Nanaimo vs Abbotsford and Ebb Tide vs Everlegends.  It became an Island vs Mainland affair.  Thus, Nanaimo filled the ranks of the Ebb Tide while Abbotsford joined the Everlegends for the trip over to the Island.  Ebb Tide still lent 2 players to the Mainland side: thanks to Jamie and Tim.

Nanaimo and Ebb Tide seemed to gel quite well together despite normally opposing each other and at first there might have been some confusion over friendly and opposition players but it seemed to sort it itself out.  There was good communication in the front pack players which helped to move the ball out to the backs and build a comfortable lead of 4-0 by the half.  The substitutions helped to keep the squad from tiring out too much.

The second half saw the Mainland force find some gaps in the Islanders defense and score a couple tries which were answered by a couple of tries from Nanaimo teammates. Final score 6-2 in favour of the good guys.  Try scorers: Allon Beck, Paul Eby, and Jon Romhpf and 3 Nanaimo players Mike, Martin, and George (hopefully got the names close).

The coveted red jacket went to Kevan for his good play in the backs and the Mainland squad chose Rob Phillips as their Islanders player of the match.  Austin Jay put in another great effort preparing the lunch for the post game meal which was well received by all.  Special thanks to Rob Klatt who was voluntold to be referee for the match, which he previously agreed to.

A combination of grizzled vets and younger Ebb Tiders showed up at Chatterton Place on Sunday morning. We had just enough boys for the game, but how long would we last was the question?  When we boarded the ferry, some of us were invited to the bridge of the ferry which was under the command of Rob Klatt's twin brother. The expression on Paul Eby's twin sons' faces after sounding the ferry horn at Active Pass was priceless! Rob Klatt was already over on the mainland for a rugby reunion and was able to recruit 6 SOBs and Snocaps to help us out against the Twits. What a relief that was. 
The game was closer than the score 4-0 and despite the pouring cold rain it was a hard fought battle. Without sounding biased, the forwards play was outstanding with several tough scrums due to the several  knock-ons due to heavy rain and we were just unable to pop through the goal line with our pods. The backs (mostly red-shorts or soon to be) were valiant against the Twits youthful back, but they were a wee too fast for us. Overall, it was a hard hitting game and a couple of fists flying at the end.  Of course, that was all forgiven at the post game ceremonies and Aaron Cook was awarded the coveted Red Jacket. Ebb Tide also received a cheque for $800 from Steve Baron for our charity of choice for our attendance at the Vancouver 7's. That was a nice surprise!
Many thanks to the mainland guys who came out to help us and of course Bob Love for patching us up. 
 
Ebb Tide Roster ( Vahid Bossi, Austin Jay, Bill Spiller, Dave Millard, Jim Capron, Rob Klatt, Paul Eby, Lee Wakely, Aaron, Cook, Harold Butler, Gord Oliver, Jim Turner, Dave Knox, Dave McMordy, Jamie Hannivan, Duane Stephenson)
 
Yours in rugby,
 
Jim Capron

The SOBs came to Victoria with numbers – 21 players – and speed in the backline. It was a glorious day for a rugby match, but unfortunately it belonged to the visitors. The final tally was 5 – 2. Ebb Tide tries were scored by Steve Holmes and Kevan Letawske. Man of the Match is Harold Butler. Meal of the Match was Austin’s pulled pork!

We had a good showing with 21 players on Sunday – but loaned 3 to the NOBS from Seattle to make up their side. Great winter/spring weather for rugby: cloudy; snow/rain; warm sunshine. A good match that was close at the half but after a great pep talk by Captain Paul at the break Ebb Tide pulled ahead and won a 7-2 victory. Try scorers: Kevan Letawske, Don Swainson, Paul Eby, Paul Dancey, Rob Phillips (after literally shaking the cob webs and a spider out of his boots before the match), Dave Knox and Aaron Cook.

Man of the match: Murk.

Twenty Ebb Tiders made the trip to Nanaimo Sunday to take on the Yoos To Bees. The hosts were able to field only 14 players, but Barry Wheelhouse volunteered to cross over and make it 15-aside. The cold, wet, muddy conditions made for a sloppy game with lots of errors: I’m sure the long break since our last game in November had nothing to do with it!

Harold at stand off took a nasty knock to the head, worth 9 stitches. Luckily Bob Love was on hand to provide medical support and get Harold to the hospital. Ebb Tide’s only try came from Darryl Gaudreau, the first of his rugby career, earning himself red jacket honours. Kevan Letawske in the centers did a great job containing Woody and was named man-of-the-match by Nanaimo. Dave Jack also played very well with some impressive runs.

The final score was 3-1 for Nanaimo so we left behind the Dunbar Cup, always kept by the winner of the lastest match between our two clubs.

The 2016 Christmas party will take place on December 2nd at the Royal Colwood Gof Club. See details here. Make your reservations with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The final copy of the schedule for the upcoming season has been posted. 

See schedule here

On Thursday, September 1, we will be training at Bullen Park. On September 8th, because of Rib Fest, we will be training at MacAuley Elementary. We will be back at Bullen afterwards.

  1. 2016-2017 Club Dues and Rugby Canada Registration
  2. 2016 Awards Night
  3. Ebb Tide Golf Tournament: Saturday, July 23
  4. New Pictures added to the 2013 Gallery