Here is coach Walt Brandl’s take on the recent lose to the Lomas by the Women’s team…
Burnaby Lake Premier Women vs. Meraloma
Nov 12/05
After a week of torrential downpour and field closures, Meralomas were able to pull some strings and secure a playable field from the Richmond Rugby Club at the airport, thus avoiding the disappointment of another cancelled game. The Burnaby Lake women were excited at the prospect of playing, having seen there roster of available players miraculously grow from a low of 12 on Monday to over 20 on Thursday. And although it would settle at 18 for game day the number was just high enough to create confusion in the coaching decisions.
In the first half the game quickly settled into what has become a typical pattern for these teams. Burnaby controlled possession and position and Meralomas defended furiously and effectively disrupted any continuity. Breaks were rare, with Burnaby centres, Rosie Cobbet and newcomer Erin Lockwood finding some gaps, but unable to finish. Still Burnaby felt confident that the ‘Lomas would fade in the second half and the points would come. The half ended tied at 0-0.
At half time the Burnaby coach preached patience to the players but showed little of it himself. Rather than stick with a moderately successful formula, changes were made in key positions and players were placed under pressure unnecessarily. Primary possession became non-existent and the Burnaby backline was forced to try and survive on kicked ball and scraps of possession they could scrounge from turnover. The forwards became locked in a stagnant permanent maul and the ball never traveled far from the point of breakdown. This style suited the ‘Lomas just fine as they maintained fair ball possession and were able to work the ball through several phases to score the games only try. Burnaby continued to press on gamely but playing 40 minutes without the ball gave predictable results on the scoring line. Final score 5-0 Meralomas.
Burnaby Lake will re-group and play SFU next Saturday on field 2 at Simon Fraser University.
