Premier Women Wins With Young Guns

Story by Walt Brandl
To write this game report up as a reprise of the former intra-Burnaby rivalry (Hilltoppers vs. Lakesiders?) between SFU and BLRC would be a bit of a stretch as SFU has been absent from the Premier League for about 5 years. Still, SFU has been competitive in their probing foray into the “Tier I Fall Women’s League” so the game looked to answer questions for both teams. Fortunately for Burnaby Lake the answers tended to fall in their favour as they worked out a 41-0 victory.
Despite some trepidation on the part off the coaching staff as to the readiness of the BLRC squad, they started strong, and territorial advantage was quickly cashed in for points as Deb Capps scored twice off her spot on the right wing to begin her quest for the hat trick. Julia Sugawara found the converts too difficult from the sidelines so she deked and dashed for a try to give herself a better placement for the convert. Burnaby Lake kept SFU under almost constant pressure in the attacking zone allowing SFU only one break across the halfway line. The dangerous run was eventually snuffed out by a combination of urgent BLRC cover and a lack of SFU support. Burnaby followed by regaining possession and setting up camp in the SFU end again. SFU tried to relieve pressure via a clearing kick which was deftly handled by winger Angel Santos, who used the hand-knee-chin-hand juggle move (taught to her by Ian Trevor) to distract the kick cover and bolt 40 metres to score on the left corner.
At the half Burnaby reversed Devon Luca with Julia Sugawara at the halfback combination and continued on their way. Julia once again demonstrated where tries are to be scored as she touched down and converted from between the sticks. The Burnaby forwards kept up their physical play in the tight and led by Katie Larson and Carly Walker continually denied SFU any quality possession. After another 20 minutes and a try by the always hard-working Laura Harmse, Burnaby began blooding the youngsters with little loss in tempo or intensity. SFU continued to compete, making dangerous breaks from their #9 and #1 and forcing Burnaby into heroic tackles from Devon Luca (now playing fullback) to keep SFU off the scoreboard. Deb Capps eventually completed her hat trick (coup du chapeau for Genevieve Gratton) by scoring the last try of the game.
Given the skill level and competitiveness of the SFU they look to be worthy members of the Premier League should they seek promotion this spring.
Of interest:
Premier in Premier – Cathy Sum got her first ever taste of rugby as a Premier winger.
Youth Movement – at one point in the game Burnaby Lake had 4 players under age 18 in the game including 2 in the front row.
Bonus Question – Which 3 BLRC players that saw action in the game were originally members of the SFU Rugby Club? E-mail waltbrandl@telus.net if you know. Answer next week.