KIWIS CONGUER PROVINCIAL REPS The New Zealand Nike U-21 team rolled into town and staged a 33-26 win over the B.C. President's XV team on Sunday at Kiahanie Park in West Vancouver. Three of the players on the provincial side have local roats — centre Bob Bremner, number eight Natsuki Koruso and flanker Mike Langley. Ali three play for the Capilanc Rugby Football Club that calis Klahanie home. Wednesday, November 8, 2000 - North: Shore News ~ 31 ARGYLE’S SILVER LINING - The Argyle cross-country team may have been looking to beat its 1999 third place finish by winning gold at the provincial finals in Seaver Lake. Victoria. but they'll be happy with second best. The 11-member team finished with 81 points, only 14 behind first-place host Oak Bay in tie weekend event. West Van grabbed fourth spot. COVERING THE GAMES PEGPLE PLAY 4 NEWS photo Mike Waketield ARGYLE secondary defender Ashley Buccholtz, right, steals the ball from a Handsworth player in the North Shore Secondary Schools Athietics Association’s junior girls field hockey championship final played at Hugo Ray on Friday afternoon. Handsworth was the victor, blanking Argyle 3-0. Murdy, Johnstone part of national rugby team Jan-Christian Sorensen News Reporter jsorensen@nsnews.com A little wine, a little pasta, a lit- tle rugby. Capilano Rugby Football Club fix- tures Tim Murdy and Ron Johnstone are currently in che midst of aa Italian cour with the Canadian senior men’s rugby team. Murdy is head coach of the local Cap premier side that plays at West Van's Kfahanie Park. Johnstone, a Pacific Pride product, plays second row for Murdy and the Caps. While Johnstone will play an integral part for die team on the field in Healy, Murdy will make his contribution trom the sidelines — he’s been named the assistant coach of the team. “Ron’s 2 very good player,” said Murdy of the 6°5", 240-[b. Johnstone. “A very athletic guy who can get around the park. He's got good skills for a guy his size.” Ie marks Murdy’s first time as a part of the national team. He played a dozen vears for the Caps before taking the helm four years age. “For me, personally it’s a really big deal. It means a lot to me, being involved at that level. Representing your country is kind of whar it’s all about in sports.” Murdy’s hoping to parlay the temporary assignation into a full-time gig with the national squad. He’s previously shared time with national team members Al Charron and Scott Stewart, both of whom are playing profes- sional rugby overseas. Roger Hatch will take the reins of the Capilano premier side until Murdy returns next week. The Caps are off to a rough start this season at 2-5, bur showed some spark this weekend with a 51-0 win over the Rowing Club. : “Pm disappointed in our record but Pm not disappointed in some. of the rugby we've been playing,” said Murdy. “There's just a few things we have to iron out and 1 think we'll be tine.” NEWS photo Paul McGrath CAPILANO premier team head coach Tim Murdy, right, and player Ren Johnstone are both in Italy with the national team for an exhibition tour. While Murdy’s in ftaly, he’s hoping to glean some tricks from some of the European-based Canadians he'll be sending into bat- ue. “It'll be great source of information for myself and for Ron.” National team head coach David Clark, who hails from Down Under, helped launch the Pacific Pride development program in Victoria thar takes the top U-23 players in the country and grooms them for professional rugby careers. Johnstone, 22, played briefly with Capilano before heading over to the Island to become a Pacific Pride team: member from 1997 through 2000. He started back with the Caps only this fall. He's looking forward to working under Clark again. “He’s a really good motivator. He’s really straight up,” said Johnstone, “He'll tet you know where vou stand and what you need to work on. There's no BS with him. He lays it out there.” While Johnstone has never taken the field for the national team, he was called up to sit on the bench this summer during an Epson Cup match versus Tonga at UBC this summer. 9 Handsworth wins _ field hockey final Jan-Christian Sorensen News Reporter JOvensen@nsnews.covs THE Handsworth junior girls field hockey team successfully defended its North Shore title with a 3-0 shutout of Argyle on Friday at Hugo Ray. Grade 9 plaver Orla Tobin notched a pair of goals and cighth-grader Chia Panterges added one of her own to pace the champs to another title win. Also key to the victory was goaltender Emma Douds, a Grade 9 player that usually patrols the field and not the net: According to Handsworth coach Allison Ross, however, the goose egg just didn’t satis- fy Douds. She wanted to be she wasi’t happy because she’s also a top scorer.” said Ross, who only took the reins of the team this tall, “She was so dis- appointed that she didn’t vet out of goal but she’s our best goalie as well, so chat’s where she ended up. She didn’t think she did enough, but she did more than cnough.” Last vear the Handsworth junior girls won the North Shore tide with a victory over the same opponent. “They were very strong rivals and they had a solid team,” said Ross of Argyle. “In the semi-finals Argyle had a very good game against Rockridge.” In semi-final action last week, Argyle handed Rockridge a 1-0 overtime loss. Handsworth — blanked Sevcove 7-0 to gain a berth in the championship. The 2000 Handsworth tearn was home to five Grade 10 students, nine Grade 9 stu- dents and five Grade 8s. up where the action was tak- ing place. “She was stuck in goal and ROSTER Canadian national rugby team roster (B.C. play- ers in bold): Ryan Sanks, Burnaby AFC: Jared Barker, James Bay Athletic Association; Dan Baugh, Cardiff RFC (Wales); Oale Burleigh, Toronto trish; John Cannon, Pacific Pride (Victoria); Al Charron, Pau (France); Gregor Dixon, Aurillac (France); Sean Fauth, Castaway-Wanderers; Mark Irvine, Bayside RFC; Mike James, Stade Francais (France); Ron: Johnstane, Pacific Peide/Capiiana RFC: Nick Milau, Bayside RFC; Phil Murphy, Perpignan (France); Kyle Nichols, Toronto Wanderers; Rod Snow, Newport RFC (Wales}; Winston Stanley, Leicester Tigers (England); Scott Stewart, Bedford RFE (England); Boris Stoikos, Balmy Beach RFC; John Tait, Cardiff RFC (Wales); Jon Thie!, Sale Sharks (England); Kevin Tkachuk, Castaway-Wanderers; Harry Teews, Castaway-Wanderers; Jeff Tomlinson,- Balmy Beach RFC; Morgan Williams, Stade Francais (France); Jeff Williams, James Bay Athletic Association: Nik Witkowski, Perpignan {France). Murdy expects the games to be fairly evenly matched, but he knows the Italians will likely have a more cohesive team when they hit the eld. “They would be at an advantage in that they’ve been training together more whereas our team is split up with so many of our players playing over in Europe right now.” The last time the squad saw time together was this summer, when they gave Japan a 62-18 thumping in the last game of the Epson Cup Pacific Rim Tournainent. The squad’s first overseas game in Italy went Monday night under the lights at the San Dona di Piave stadium near Rovigo. The Canadian reps next take the field for an official test match against the Italian national team Saturday afternoon. They're expecting a large group of Canadian peacekeepers on feave from Bosnia to be in the crowd and cheering for their home squad. - The team is curreatly ranked 12th in the world, with Italy directly behind. In 1994 Canada lost to an Italian A contingent in. Rovigo; In 1993 the Italians split a vo-test Canadian tour, losing 19-13 in Vancouver and winning 37-9 in Toronto. The team welcomes faxes at the Hotel Europa Palace where © they are staying —- 0039.0425.474888.