Saturday 26th November saw the day start miserably for the Blue and White men of Burnaby Lake. The 3rd div playoff game vs Scribes was moved to the boggy confines of Gordon Park. Despite carrying the play the BLRC 3rd team fell short 13-10 to a gritty Scribes team.
Burnaby carried the play for the majority of the game and unfortunately fell foul of referee Scott Johnson at a crucial time in the game. 2 sin bins in 2 minutes reduced the team to 13 men and as gallantly as the BLRC defended it was not enough. BLRC try scorers were Johnny “Freddy Mercury Tribute” Walker and Rory “Chalmers” Love.
With the completion of this game attention moved to South Surrey Athletic Park for the deciding game in the last spot for the BCRU Premier League vs Bayside. Huge credit to the many 3rd div players and BLRC supporters who showed up to cheer the team on. The support the BLRC prem squad has received from the whole club has been amazing during this month of sudden death rugby, with a dearth of 1st and 3rd div games practice numbers have remained at over 70 ensuring that every player works for their position and no passengers are tolerated.
Ahead of the game BLRC legend Mike James provided a fillup to the teams by providing every player with a sponsored warm up dry fit shirt, the premier team also wore new jerseys courtesy of the many new sponsors coming aboard and supporting the rapidly expanding rugby community in Burnaby.
Looking good in warm up and on the field is one thing, matching it with performance is another.
Fortunately on Saturday the men of the Lake put in the performance that was required, this was despite an enforced change in the warm up as Snookie Laudisio did not pass his fitness test. Cole Macqueen came into start at full back with Steve “White Lightning” Batie moving out to the wing.
Played in soggy conditions the 1st 25 minutes of the game was played in the Bayside half as the Burnaby forwards led by props Scott Mackay and Anth Luca seized control at scrum time and at the contact points of the breakdown. This lead to a 6-0 lead courtesy of 2 Geoff Ryan penalties. Unfortunately a yellow card to Burnaby at this point relieved the pressure and allowed Bayside to show what they could do. Within 2 minutes of the Bin Peter Clifford fed Brodie Henderson on a wide arc and beating the 1st 2 defenders he popped the ball to Chris Pack who scored the try. 6-5 BLRC. It was now Bayside’s turn to play a man short as their Captain Pat Bickerton served time. Unfortunately a combination of Burnaby’s poor execution and poor choices while having a man advantage meant that Bayside ended the 1/2 kicking a penalty goal through Clifford for an 8-6 half time lead. Game on.
Burnaby started the 2nd half much like the 1st dominating possession through their pack, Colin Mckenzie again superb in control of the base ably assisted by his 2 carrying and tackling workhorses Doug Breadon and Aaron Goddard. Needing to take advantage of Bickerton in the bin Geoff Ryan dropped a goal from 25 yds out following excellent phase play. 9-8 BLRC.
From the restart Burnaby were right back on the offensive and excellent positional kicking from Macqueen, Ryan and Cuthill put Bayside back defending 10 meters from their line. Goddard created a turnover and Burnaby punched for the line only to be denied by resolute Bayside defending although a penalty was conceded and Ryan once again did the honours. 12-8 BLRC
Once again from the restart Bayside found themselves pinned in their 22 from Burnaby’s tactical kicking however they broke out as a delicate chip from Clifford was retrieved by Henderson who made yards before Cole Macqueen made a try saving tackle, quickly recycling the ball allowed Bayside’s Cody Rockson to draw a penalty which he turned into another 10 yards closer. Pete Clifford made good with the penalty 11-12 BLRC. 10 minutes to play. Fresh legs for Burnaby in the form of Edvin Sabic, Admir Cejvanovic and Micha Govorchin gave Burnaby the boost required to grind out more possession. A transgression from Bayside was once again punished by Ryan, courtesy of the goal post 11-15 Burnaby with 4 mins to go.
The final minutes were played in Bayside’s half and despite the efforts of Clifford, Henderson and Pack the game ended with Admir Cejvanovic showing his soccer skills, dribbling the ball to the end zone and scoring a deciding try. The missed convert signalled the end of the game and Burnaby’s confirmation as the team that takes the last spot in the 2011-12 BC Rugby Premier League.
Many Thanks to referee Dave Smortchevsky and assistant referees Tere Blake and Gerry Clayton and to the Bayside club for their gracious hosting.
Next week sees the 1st and Prem Div BLRC men attempt to emulate their female counterparts by capturing 2 VRU Championships. Both final games are at Klahanie KO 1.00pm and 2.30pm. Watch out for the Blue and White Hordes coming over the Bridges.
