Saturday, March 16th was a big day for Burnaby Lake! 4 Men’s teams in action combined with 2 Women’s Teams meant that our resources would be spread thin. Up front, I’d like to thank our team managers (Jone, RJ, Clive, Roko, Brent) as well as Ross, Gio + the rest of the trainers that took care of our players on that day. As well, I’d like to thank Marcus Treacy + the Scribes for letting us use their flags/pads for our 3B match at Winona Park, and hope that friendships were forged afterwards when both BLRC 3rd div teams and the Rowers exchanged stories afterwards at the legendary Scribes clubhouse!
Burnaby Lake Blue’s 15 – Rowing Club 10
The 3B’s started the early men’s game against the Thirsty 3rds of the VRC. The day would see Senior Rugby debut performances by some of the BLRC’s juniors. And many of them made a HUGE impact. The 1st mention goes to Alex Golding who made some outstanding runs and connected with Taichi Kashima often to make kicking deep a dangerous option for the Rowers. Saturday would also see the return of former BLRC Junior Walter Homewood. In his 1st game back in more than a year, Walter was a standout in the Forwards keeping the BLRC pack moving forward and his long frame made him a sure thing in the lineout’s. Coach Conan Cooper insists that an honourable mention should go to Scott McCartney for his aggression and excellent tackling on the day, but the biggest praise from the coach comes for BLRC Junior Tatusi Vikilani. “Man of the Match goes to Tatusi. Two trys, crushing tackles, poaching, jackling, leading the defence, putting fear of touching the ball into their halfbacks. I wouldn’t have wanted to be the opposition!” Try Scorers: T Vikilani (2) Golding
Burnaby Lake White’s 20 – Scribes 15
Another Senior Rugby debut came from long-time BLRC junior Paolo Dube! Paolo, in his 1st game of Men’s Rugby was chosen by the opposition as the Man of the Match, and from watching (and coaching) him over the years as a junior, that comes as no surprise to me! Pound for pound, Paolo is one of the toughest customers on the pitch! Joining Paolo in the front row and in the memories of a few would be tacklers was Kaulote Builote. He’s not the traditional shape of BLRC’s “Fijian Flyers”, but Kaulote’s game sense showed strong with play-making moves leading both forwards and backs across the gain line. Impressive footwork for a 120kg+ player! He is sure to find himself playing a higher level rugby before the season ends. Newly joined Aaron Lambert had a monster game as well. Aaron just joined us from Abbotsford, and in his 1st game with the club, Aaron powered through with 2 tries! That’s quite the debut! Lastly Coach Cooper had this to say about the BLRC fly half, Colin Thompson: “Colin was the thorn for their inside plays. You could hear the smack when he put down their 5/8s. Could be considered M.O.M, but he’s playing up to his normal standards, so ironically, he sits less noticeable. Colin is a serious impact player for us.” As is any game against the Scribes, it was hard fought and the BLRC were fortunate to come away with a win after being down in the 1st half. Rumor has it that the BLRC also won the boat race, although St. Patrick’s day memories can be fuzzy. Try Scorers: Lambert (2), Thompson, Builote
BLRC 1st Div 31 – UVIC 14
To say that the BLRC 1st div were looking forward to this match would be a HUGE understatement. The 1sts were 6 and 2 on the season, with the losses coming by a combined 6 points. One of those 3 point losses was in October to UVIC at home, in a game that Coach Murphy’s squad controlled for much of the game.
On Saturday, the first 10 minutes were thoroughly owned by UVIC. 2 quick converted tries to start the game had the BLRC on the back foot and doubt was creeping in on the faces of the players. But, leaders lead and that’s what captain Adam Dowhy did. The Former Vike took the ball into contact at midfield and rather than bull through as Props are taught to do, his move was a “Savardian spin-o-rama”. Free of contact he moved the ball to #10 Nolan Shelley who popped to VP Angus Fisher. Angus turned on the famous wheels and sprinted 40 metres over the try line!
As half time neared, a clearing kick from UVIC put the ball into the hands of 8-man, Andy Drummond who found a hole in the UVIC line and went on a long run with big Greg Doucette in support. Andy found contact inside the 5m line, with Deuce calling for the off load. Andy put it on the chest and Deuce would barrel over for a try to bring on the break. Half-time score: UVIC 14 BLRC 12
The half time talk was 100% positive and Coach Murph urged his team to keep pushing and put this game away! A few minutes in, Shelley popped up a long cross kick which was taken at pace by the returning Esava Nakalanisa. Esava broke through a few defenders before popping to Andy Drummond who scored in the corner. Now up 17 to 14, The Blue+White needed to play slow ball until the whistle and the forwards were licking their chops at the chance to run the hammering forward plays that the coaches installed this week. The last quarter of the game was a clinic by the BLRC Forwards. Wave after wave of “Grade A” BLRC beef smashed into the Norsemen with Wong, Lackner, McHugh, Barnert, Petrovich, Mantle, and Harkins taking short passes from #9 Turkington, and making the hard yards. When the ball inevitably had to go to the backs, centers Bonnell and Fisher knew to run it back towards the pack, who would simply secure the ball and let Turk pop it to a trailing Prop or 2nd Row! The final 20 minutes consisted of 2 looooooong drives, each finishing with Nate Mantle diving through the defenders and over the try line and Nolan Shelley kicking it between the posts. This was a TEAM victory.
BLRC Premier 40 – UVIC 14
Ferry legs are common in the CDI Premier League, but the 3 block walk from the changing rooms gave the BLRC the warm up they needed to start the game on the front foot. Mike Gough’s crew attacked from the get-go with Evan Thomas making the game’s 1st big run before a big shoulder put him on the ground for a few minutes. The always exciting Joe Dolesau was the next man to bring the BLRC fans to their feet when a he recognized the start of a long skip pass by the Vikes Pat Kay. Joe ran hard, jumped, and bobbled it a few times before finally gaining control and sprinting down the field. Matt Alexander was the recipient of the Dolesau pass from contact, and Matt would run it in near the posts. #10 James Reekie would hit his first of 5 conversions on the day.
Just 5 minutes later, Thomas took the ball into contact and made a particularly impressive skyhook offload to Gough who showed that he still has some gas, deking a defender before putting the ball in the hands of Bicep-ie Laudisio who has a nose for the try line. Reekie made another convert and just like that, the bus was rolling as the BLRC found themselves up 14-0. The bus would hit a bump by the name of Pay Kay though. This kid has moves on top of moves. Even with video it’s hard to keep track of the number of missed tackles as Kay seemed to be within reach of every BLRC player on his way to the Vikes 1st try. He would convert his own, and the Vikes were within a try at half time, 14 to 7 for the BLRC.
As the game resumed Pay Kay started the 2nd half as he began the first… running around, through and over would be tacklers before moving the ball to Parker who followed suit on his way to 5 points. Kay converted and the score was tied at 14.
The game was played back and forth, mostly between the 22’s for the next 20 minutes with nothing coming of it except bumps + bruises. With the wind in their favour, Reekie started sending bombs down the field hoping to trap the Vikes inside their own 22. Mission accomplished; some hard work by Breadon + Piffero created a turnover, but unfortunately a knock on gave UVIC a scrum close to their goal line. The big Blue + White Pack led by Anthony Luca + Ryan Ackerman pushed the Vikes backwards allowing Admir Cejvanovic to pick up + go. He was brought down, but #9 Rain De Guzman spun the ball to Reekie who found a surging Laudisio for his 2nd try of the match! The BLRC would feed off of the energy created by the stolen scrum and while shoulders sagged on their opposition, the Blue + White chests inflated and it was off to the races.
Off the kickoff, the boys were moving forward again. The forwards crashed the ball before Reekie, sensing a mismatch, called for the ball and split the defense before hitting his favorite target Joe Dolesau who ran in un-touched. This was a big try for Joe, who made many big plays that game, but hadn’t been recognized on the score sheet yet.
Reekie was on a mission at that point, the next 7 points were his as he once again split the defense, leaving a trail of frustrated tacklers in his wake. He converted and it was 35 to 14 with only minutes left.
In my eyes, the last BLRC try was the most impressive. Kris deScossa had made some tactical subs and I found myself watching the game on the sidelines next to #2 Micha Govorchin. The play unfolded with Dolesau dancing through tacklers like a vintage MJ video, before his space ran out. #14 Matt Alexander was with Joe giving him strong support. On Joe’s other side, rarely seen supporting speedsters was our long time #1, Anthony Luca. Joe looked to the left and right and made the obvious choice to pass to Matt! Next to me, Micha was SCREAMING support for his front row mate to keep up with the play!! It looked like the glory would once again go a winger as Alexander froze his opposite and cut in, barely out of the grasp of another Vike defender. But Micha wanted this to happen!! Matt sensed Micha’s desire to have the Prop score untouched…so Matt passed to Luca for the game’s final tally!
Many of the BLRC stayed in Victoria for St. Patrick’s Day Shenanigans. The early evening was spent making and renewing friendships at the CW clubhouse before moving on to the CW Sponsor “Touch” Nightclub. Big thanks to Roger Robinson and the staff at Touch for an amazing night. One member even ran into a true BLRC legend later in the night; sorry it was under those circumstances.
Mike Devlin www.burnabylakerugby.com Many Teams~One Club
