Rugby | National men’s team coach in town Monday to hold sessions with Timber, Spruce

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By the time new Canadian senior rugby team coach Kieran Crowley arrives to conduct a training camp with the New Brunswick Black Spruce Monday afternoon at Loyalist Field, they may have changed their name.

They could be the Black and Blue Spruce.

The local Rugby Canada Super League entry kicks off their six game schedule Saturday in Oakville, Ont. against the reigning Eastern Division finalist Niagara Thunder.

"They come from a place where they have 16,000 active players that they can choose from, and we come from a place where we have 160 players that we can choose from," said coach turned manager turned coach again Malcolm MacAfee, perhaps summimg up the odds for the Spruce in their 2008 debut in rugby's national league.

"They'll be strong, but it will be a very competitive game, we feel," said MacAfee, pressed into service in his old role as coach this weekend because Keith McAlpine is away.

The Spruce, seeking to improve on last season's 1-4-1 record, have seen their talent pool get a little more shallow with the departure of veterans Jebb Sinclair and Chauncey O'Toole who have been added by the Canadian Sevens team for an upcoming competition in England and Scotland. Both have been training in Victoria, B.C. and because of their schedules, won't be able to suit up with the Black Spruce at any point.

"But I don't want to discount the people that we have there," MacAfee said, referring to Phil Robinson, late of the Halifax Rugby Club, who moves into the spot on the wing; and Justin O'Toole, who inherits Chauncey's spot at number eight.

"Chauncey and Jebb are real race horses out there, and they've got a great work base. But these other guys do, too. We're working with what we've got. Good luck to them, and they'll be missed, but we should be fine in the back row."

Also absent is MacAfee's son Scott, a horse for the Spruce since their inception. He played four of the team's six games last season, but won't be available in the compressed six game season which begins Saturday, includes the team's home opener against the Quebec Caribou a week from Monday on May 26 at 2 p.m. and includes home games June 7 against the Newfoundland Rock and June 28 against the Ottawa Harlequins at Loyalist Field. Road games include a visit to Halifax and the Nova Scotia Keltics June 14.

"This is the earliest start we've ever had and it will be the earliest finish we've ever had," said MacAfee. "It's a nice compact season."

MacAfee believes the Spruce, drawn from the local Loyalists, Saint John Trojans, Moncton Black Tide, Belleisle Rovers, UNB Ironmen, and Charlotte County Bulldogs of the New Brunswick Rugby Union, will be representative.

"We could win all our games this year," he said. "We handled those Newfoundland teams in the fall (with the Loyalists) and it's not a hell of a lot different."

They played the Thunder hard at home last season - almost a year ago to the day, May 19, 2007 - before losing 26-19.

"We were unfortunate not to win that first game," recalled MacAfee. Indeed, the Spruce led the match 19-9 at one point before the Thunder struck for 17 unanswered points in the last 30 minutes.

The Spruce victory last season came over the Keltics, 24-19. They battled the Caribou to a 24-24 tie on the road. So parity is at hand.

Opening weekend will be a test, however. Also among the absent: veterans Chris Hunter and J.B. Watson, who plan to play but can't make the trip this weekend. "We'll work our way through it," said MacAfee, leading the charge in the absence of McAlpine this weekend. "I will gracefully slide back out after this weekend."

The Spruce - and the Under 20 provincial version, the Timber, who make their debut in the Rugby Canada Junior Super League June 7 against the Newfoundland Junior Rock - will both audition for Crowley, the 46-year-old New Zealander appointed as the senior men's team head coach in March after a stellar international career which included a stint with the legendary New Zealand All-Blacks squad.

He made his debut with the team in 1983 at age 22 and made his full international debut against England two years later. It will mark the first time an active senior men's head coach has come to New Brunswick.

"The New Brunswick Rugby Union is delighted to be hosting Kieran Crowley on his visit to New Brunswick," said Paul Wilson, the president of the New Brunswick Rugby Union. "This event provides a great opportunity for our elite players and coaches to meet and work with Kieran at an early stage of his tenure as national team coach."

Crowley will work with the Timber from 1 p.m. to 2:30 at Loyalist Field and the Black Spruce from 3-4:30 p.m. before entertaining questions from 4:30 to 5 p.m. in the Loyalist Field clubhouse.