With the disappointment of failing to qualify for the premier league behind them, the Bayside Sharks are pressing forward with the start of the second half of the B.C. rugby season next weekend.

The Sharks are out of the elite premier loop and instead will compete in what can best be described as division one-A, an independent league that slots in below the premier league but not among the ranks of division one. Bayside will play a 10-game, home-and-away schedule against the likes of Seattle, Vancouver Rowing Club, Cowichan, Velox and Richmond. Play begins Saturday (Feb. 4) when Seattle visits South Surrey Athletic Park beginning at 1 p.m.

"We're definitely excited and ready to play," said Bayside coach Pat Kearney. "We have a good core of guys who need experience with competition so we're glad we have a full schedule to play this half. We're glad we're playing in a league that has playoffs and a title at the end of the year but we haven't lost sight of where we want to be, which is in the premier league.

"We're playing here now and we want to make a lot of noise so the guys in premier league know that we're not going away and we'll be back in the fall."

To get ready for the new campaign, the Sharks played three exhibition games against the Surrey Beavers Saturday as part of the on again, off again Onion Shield challenge between the two clubs. In the main event between the respective division one sides, the Sharks outlasted the Beavers 26-22.

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