BLRC Match Reports, Mar 1 2014
BLRC Premier Women 102 – Bayside 0/ & BLRC 2nd Div vs SFU (Exhibition)
A week that included one practice in the parking lot, a night of shoveling snow off a rugby field and the best attended Thursday night training of the year ended with two solid wins for the BLRC women’s program.
First up was the 2nd division team in a game against SFU. After weathering an initial onslaught that saw SFU repeatedly threaten the goal line, the forwards began driving the ball up field, relieving the pressure and creating space on the outside. This was to be the pattern for most of the game as the forwards crashed and bashed while the backs flashed and dashed. Alexia Blasco, with her numerous strong kick-off returns and Gurpreet Kahroth with her Drift and Destroy Defence led the way in the Burnaby forwards. Angel Santos led the scoring parade with 5 tries, while Lauren Tagg, Samantha Kovacik, Shelby Sloan each added singles. For Sam and Shelby these were their first tries in the Blue and White. Kyra Groll also contributed a try and 4 converts. SFU fought back with two well worked tries of their own, to keep the game competitive
Back at Burnaby Lake, the Prems were gearing up to face Bayside. The Burnaby women were riding a two game win streak while Bayside had yet to play this half, coming off a bye week and a snowed out game. The difference on battle readiness showed immediately as the Burnaby backline capitalized on missed Bayside tackles to open the floodgates. Hard, disciplined running lines by the forwards and the inside backs left space to the outside to be exploited by the Burnaby back three of Emily Young, Ciera Malone and Annie Arnott. Before the half rolled around, inside centre Mackenzie Lee had earned the hat trick in addition to tries from Breanne Watson, Emily, Ciera, and Laura Harmse. In the second half Bayside fought back gamely, keeping pressure deep in Burnaby territory on a number of occasions only to see the Burnaby forwards steal back the ball and the Burnaby backs fly down field to score. Second half scorers included Cat, Emily and Ciera adding to their totals while Annie, Tanya Dordevic, Julia Sugawara also joined the scorers.
The Burnaby Lake Prems will now have a week off before facing a resurgent Capilano side at the Lake on March 8.
BLRC 3rd Div Men 13 – Kats RFC 14
What a game! This was the first of 3 very close Men’s games at BLRC on Saturday. The always dangerous Kats were in town and came looking for revenge. Last Saturday at Balaclava Park, the BLRC had put together a solid victory on the home side. The Kats struck first with the sort of well worked, multi phase try that you would expect from them. Walter Homewood responded for the BLRC, hauling in a high pass and bulling his way in for a try. The 1st half would end with Kats up 7-5. To open the 2nd half, the Kats camped out inside the BLRC 22m line before one of their forwards dove over for the try. A solid convert made it 14-5. Colin Thompson would put up a 3 pointer for the BLRC to keep it close. With a minute left, 18 yr old Anders Blizzard took a pass from Paul Murphy just outside his own 22, made 3 defenders miss and outpaced another for a beautiful 60 metre try to make the score 14 to 13. Alas, there was no joy in Mudville as the conversion didn’t have the legs and the home side fell. While not a victory, there were many positives to take from this game. On the physical side, the BLRC 3rds are a force to be reckoned with. Big bodies like Bryce Worden, John DeCaire, Seveci Duruloka + Kelly Hirakida can gain the hard yards. Young back rowers like Homewood, McCartney + Menzies are already making strong cases for 1st div jobs with their energy + strong tackling. The backs are a great mix of youth + veterans with young FB Casey Evans (an RL crossover from Aus) leading by example! This pundits critique is that the team needs to find a little “game sense” in order to compete with some of the veteran squads that are so prevalent in this division. After 3 tough games to start the season (Scribes, Kats, Kats) the pressure doesn’t let up this weekend, as we host Kelowna who were a 1st div team only a month ago.
BLRC 1st Div Men 31 – UVIC Norsemen 29
The Norsemen had been victorious the last 2 times these squads faced off. Playing at home for the 1st time this year, there was serious motivation for the BLRC to take the W. The game got off to a slow start with both sides feeling out the other + looking for holes. Adam Martin would open the scoring at the 15 minute mark. UVIC would take the lead on a converted try when the ball would emerge out the side of a BLRC ruck and the UVIC winger scooped it up and took it all the way home. Aaron Goddard would respond for the BLRC and Nolan Shelley would make good on the conversion to get the lead back 12-7. UVIC answered promptly with a nice try from a chip + chase that would be converted. The half ended with the visitors in front 14-12.
Brad Gordon finished off a series of forward crashes with a try to open the 2nd half which Nolan Shelley converted. UVIC would punish a BLRC infraction with a 3 pointer before Dustin Luther trucked in a try. A Shelley conversion would put the score at 26 to 17 mid way through the 2nd half. UVIC narrowed the score when their #10 found a seam to score under the posts + converted his own. The slippery fly half followed that performance by scoring another one a minute after. The convert was short but UVIC found themselves in the lead with less than 4 minutes remaining. The BLRC would emerge from their end zone with a look of determination I haven’t seen on them all year. With time running down, UVIC was closing out the game with short forward ball and hope seemed lost. Then the UVIC #9 tried a box kick which gave Matt Alexander the ball at the BLRC 22. The ball moved to Giuseppe Laudisio who got the ball out of the BLRC end. A fired up Dustin Luther made a nifty show + go before passing to Preston Petrovich who shook off a few would-be tacklers before being brought down at the UVIC 22m. A few crashes from Morrey-Jones, James, Luther + McLaughlin saw the BLRC work over the 22 m line and closer to the 5. The ball was then spun wide through Nolan Shelley and Matt Alexander before it got to Laudisio who touched down for the winning try. The 1st division doesn’t have the parity that the Premier League has, and with the exception of the 4 games/year against UVIC + Capilano the BLRC 2nd XV doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to dig deep and see what they’re made of. This gut-check win is one that captain Preston Petrovich and Coach Murphy can build a playoff run on. Thanks to UVIC for the great game!
BLRC Premier Men 27 – UVIC Vikes 26
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times….a flawless first 35 minutes by the BLRC followed by 45 minutes of errors gave wrinkles to the Blue & White faithful and hope to a visiting side that should have been out of the game midway through the 1st half.
A world class bag piper (courtesy of Doc Hedges) led the BLRC out of the changing room and the guys were flying. The team is playing some good rugby of late and the 1st half was as dominant as I’ve ever seen them. Every scrum went in the forwards favour. Cejvanovic, MacKay + Gough blew through UVIC rucks like bowling balls through pins to create turnovers. Everything the backs tried worked…even when a (too) complicated pass hit the ground, McQueen or Gotegote would pick it up on the hop, sit a defender down and make 25 yards. It seemed too good to be true…
The opening score was set up by Admir Cejvanovic who has been a beast on the pitch since his return from injury. Admir broke 2 tackles + dished to Brian Murphy. The young winger fixed his defender + hit Admir with a beauty pass. Adi fixed his defender before passing to Geoff Ryan who raced in for the try. Ryan would be wide on the conversion. This would be a common theme on the day for the normally sure footed fly half who was only 1 for 5 on Saturday.
Try # 2 came off of a lineout in the UVIC end. Tight head prop, Scott MacKay was the grateful recipient at the back of a speeding maul that crossed over into scoring territory. Ryan hit his lone convert and it was 12-0 only minutes into the game.
UVIC alum Steve Batie would set in motion a series of phases that resulted in a Dolesau try. Steve is a master at the jackal and when a UVIC ball carrier found himself without support in a tackle, “White Lightning” turned over the ball, leading to a few forward crashes that drew the Vikes defenders in. Joe Dolesau would take a pass from Ryan and bust through the last few defenders to score. 17-0
The armour started to unravel with about 5 minutes left in the half as 2 rucks turned into 2 penalties against the home side. The result was a UVIC lineout at the BLRC 5m line. UVIC made a living on Saturday with the cheeky lineout thrown to the front man. Balkovec was the recipient on this one, and only had to take one step and fall over for the 1st UVIC points. 17-5
The BLRC would take an opportunity to finish the half in style; Geoff Ryan with a cross kick to Brian Murphy who would sprint in to make the score 22-5.
UVIC made a few subs at the half, bringing in former BC Bear Liam Chisholm. Chisholm seemed to change the dynamic of the UVIC forwards, adding a heavy dose of grit and toughness that helped to stabilize the UVIC scrums. BLRC’s penalty count began to expand exponentially as the team couldn’t seem to get on the right side of the ref, and the Blue & White started to give up possession + territory which leveled the playing field considerably. In spite of a heavy penalty count, about 20 minutes into the half, the BLRC scored.. The Vikes had been trapped in their own end zone which resulted in a 5m scrum. The pack set a great platform and Cejvanovic picked up from his #8 spot, smashing through the flanker and touching down for the BLRC’s last points.
At this point, the game became a cross between a UVIC highlight reel and a “how to upset your referee by not listening to him” video. UVIC’s comeback started with their talented center Remi Antcil who proved that there is more to him than just the league’s best mustache. He took a hard line outside at the half way mark and raced in untouched for a try. Kay was good on the convert and it was 27-12 with about 15 minutes to go.
A series of penalties led to UVIC on the BLRC door step. Another penalty at the breakdown would see a BLRC forward given a 10 minute rest. UVIC found the overlap and their flanker (possibly Stewart) dove over for a try. Kay’s convert made the score 27-19, and silenced the crowd.
UVIC stayed on the front foot with momentum + luck on their side. A BLRC play had broken down (As many of them seemed to in the 2nd half) and the ball found its way into the hands of Matt Yanagiya at the UVIC 10m line. The BLRC were still moving towards the UVIC goal as Yanagiya was going in the other direction. He touched down between the posts + Kay added another 2 points. Luckily, time was now on the BLRC side. The BLRC retrieved the kickoff and were able to hold onto it for the remaining minute or so before Rockson kicked the ball out of bounds to end the game 27 to 26.
Whether the momentum swing was due to too many substitutions, a lack of discipline, a lack of focus, etc…The BLRCs flagship squad allowed a blowout to turn into the thinnest of victories. A win is a win, but the squad need to ask themselves some serious questions + come up with the answers quickly before they host the newly beefed up Castaway-Wanderers this weekend.
Thanks to the BC Referee Society for their diligence on Saturday and thanks to the supporters who filled the clubhouse + sidelines! You are always appreciated!
Many Teams~One Club
