Saturday November 12, 2011 – Winter decided to rear its head as the
grey Vancouver skies opened up and cold ocean winds blasted Brockton
Oval. Burnaby Lake would take on the Vancouver Rowing club and be the
victor on this day, earning a bonus point 41 – 10 victory over VRC.
The second division women would also see action on the day, Ian
Trevor’s write up can be found here
In the elite match up Burnaby started the game with a kickoff deep in
the Rowers’ end. Early pressure by Burnaby led to the rowers catching
a crab and three points for Geoff Ryan.
A couple of minutes later the Rowers got a chance to level the score
but the attempt by their kicker sailed wide of the uprights.
It was the Lakers who got on the attack early as sloppy play and a
missed tackle enable Jeke Gotegote who kept an even keel to break
through several rower tacklers and score for the first try of the
game. Geoff Ryan would convert and the score would be 10-0 BLRC.
Early on in the contest Colin Mackenzie suffered a cut over his eye.
Admir Cejvanovic came on as a blood sub and quickly churned up the
hard yards before coming back out.
The Rowers would not break early as the came on with a flurry putting
together several phases before exploiting an overlap on the left wing
to score in the corner. 10-5 Burnaby.
Burnaby would come right back as Giuseppe “Snooks” Laudisio would find
a gap on the outside and take several would be tacklers on, on his way
to pay dirt. Geoff Ryan’s kick would sail wide. BLRC 15 Rowers 5.
Again the Rowers would find the try line. Several breaks by their
quick stand-off and Burnaby looking like a drunken spider, led to a
Rower offload and score in the corner. The try would go unconverted.
15-10 the score at half.
Mike Gough would lead by example and opened the second half scores.
Ryan would convert, 22-10 Burnaby Lake to open the second half.
As the weather and rain turned sideways the forwards took it upon
themselves to hunker down and scrummage. Burnaby would have the
distinct advantage in the scrum on this day applying steady pressure
and disrupting Rower setpeice. Burnaby would then use the kick to pin
the Rowers in their end and then used the scrum to pressure the
clearing kick. This strategic play led to Burnaby’s next score, when a
Burnaby scrum deep in Rower territory led to several pick and go
phases on the Rower line. Admir “the Stache” Cejvanovic 27-10. Geoff
“the Stache” Ryan with the convert.
Burnaby would add more points as Adam “the handlebar” Martin would
break a tackle and slide in underneath the posts. Geoff Ryan would
convert, 34-10 Burnaby Lake. Burnaby’s final try came courtesy of Ryan
“the Stache” Mchollister who dangled and dove over for a try, Nolan
Shelley would convert to make the final score 41-10 Burnaby Lake.
Good performances by Doug “the Stache” Breadon, Scott “the Stache”
MacKay, Aaron “the pain train” Goddard and Barry “the Stache” Bonell
on the wing. A very big thanks and appreciation to the match
officials on the day. An equally big thank you to the supporters who
braved the cold, rain, hail, wind, and kitchen sinks…that had to be
the top five coldest games I’d ever been a part of!
Join us as we take on Bayside next weekend at South Surrey Athletic Park.
