from Mike Devlin
Saturday was a beautiful day at Burnaby Lake! With 5 teams in action that day and 3 matches at 11:30am, Blue + White rugby fans had plenty to be excited about.
Premier Women 83 – Capilano 0
The Capilano women’s program is in a rebuilding phase with the likes of Mandy Marchak , Hillary Leith + Andrea Burk playing in Victoria or abroad and the legendary Heather Jaques patrolling the sidelines. Their absence has left some holes that the young Caps team has yet to fill. The holes opened enough for the BLRC to run in 13 tries on Saturday morning.
Tries came from McEwen, Schamberger, Luca, Young, and Hindley. The returning Mel Miyazaki scored 2 as did Maria Gallo. Captain Julia Sugawara scored 2 and added 6 conversions for 22 points while Gen Gratton also ran in 2 tries and added 3 conversions for 16 points. While the ladies will take the win, they look forward to the near future when the Capilano team will revive a once great women’s rugby rivalry.
Men’s 3 Whites 17 – Kats 13
Injuries, vacations and work commitments combined with a flu bug made the rounds this weekend in our Men’s program. Both 3rds teams played with only 15 players. A tall test for any team, for our 3 Whites playing against 3rd div veterans like the Kats, it could have spelled disaster. The Whites were captained by Rick Flello, whose leadership qualities were needed on this day. It was a chippy affair from the beginning with the referee + the captains having to take charge numerous times to avoid serious confrontation.
In the second half with the score 12 to 3 in favour of the BLRC, the play was whistled dead as the Kats #15 jumped on the head of a downed BLRC junior. When the ensuing brouhaha ended, the Kats player was shown a red card.
Unfortunately, the 3 Whites didn’t have a spare player to replace the injured BLRC player whose head was badly cut open. So the rest of the match was played 14 on 14. The last 20 minutes saw the Kats use their considerable size to maul in 2 tries to take the lead. The BLRC worked the ball back down the field and into the 22 where a knock on ended their drive. The Kats won their scrum but the clearing pass was bungled by their kicker and Blake Barnert dove on the bouncing ball in the end zone. Game over. This week the 3 White’s welcome the Lomas to Burnaby Lake. The last match between these 2 sides was a draw in the first half.
Men’s 3 Blues 17 – Ridge Meadows Bruins 59
The Blues were the odd team out as they were the only team playing away from the comfy confines of Burnaby Lake. As with the other 3rd div team, they arrived with only 15 players, and had numerous players playing out of position. The first half was close and the score was 29 to 17 for the Bruins at the break. The BLRC forwards, led by veteran props Steve Sawchuk and Brent Molesworth, were strong in the scrums and team captain Marvin Omaque was all over the field until an errant cleat in a ruck ended his game. In the 2nd half, the Bruins exploited a BLRC weakness, the team failed to retreat and pay attention on penalties. Twice they executed a quick tap followed by offloads to #8 who was trailed by a fast #9. Exactly same pattern: quick tap, evade two tackles from offside players, offload to #8 on the angle and cross the field, then offload to #9 running straight for the try. The quicker Bruins kept the pressure on until the whistle. This was the 3B’s first loss, and they’ll take it and learn from it.
BLRC 1sts 63 – James Bay 16
The 2 teams met in October at MacDonald Park with the BLRC crossing the Strait and coming away with a 43 to 11 victory. Perhaps that home loss was fresh in the minds of the JBAA players, because they came out firing on all cylinders scoring a converted try and a penalty kick in the game’s opening minutes! Nolan Shelley had a 3 pointer to put the score at 10-3 after 10 minutes. BLRC captain Alec Douglas got the Blue+White back on track and the team started moving forward. The BLRC stomped in 10 tries from 10 different players. BLRC tries cames from Vunitaraga, VP Fisher, McLaughlin, Murphy, Ackerman, Douglas, Wong, Lambert, Doucette and Nolan Shelley who also finished with 13 points off the boot. This weekend sees the BLRC 1sts host the Meralomas. The 2 clubs fought to a very close 18 to 15 BLRC victory in November at Connaught.
BLRC Premier 42 – James Bay 19
As has been documented, the BLRC hadn’t beaten James Bay in Premier Rugby in 11 years. The last victory coming with names like Riordan, Banks, Major, Neufeld, Agostini, McKenzie and a young Cory Turkington on the BLRC game sheet.
The game started slow with many penalties. James Reekie would punish 2 James Bay infractions, putting the first 6 points on the board with his boot. The next few minutes would see some perfect form from the JBAA forwards as they had 2 VERY successful mauls that pushed the BLRC back into their own 5m line. A series of forward crashes went nowhere as the BLRC line held firm before a penalty was awarded to JBAA between the posts. Sean White made quick work of the kick and it was 6-3 for the BLRC.
The ensuing kickoff was recovered by the BLRC who moved the ball into the James Bay end. Anthony Luca and the forwards would test the JBAA mettle with a few forward lines. Some stiff James Bay defense would end the drive and James Bay was able to clear. On the BLRC return, the home side was penalised for not releasing on the ground and White would boot the ball deep into the BLRC end. The Bays would, once again, use their maul to get into the attacking 5m line where a BLRC penalty gave the Bays another clean shot at goal. White would choose to try a cross kick (too much NRL on Sportsnet World lately!), hoping to find the BLRC backline sleeping, but Evan Thomas was there. He used his (basketball?) skills to out jump Wilson-Ross, but his pass was knocked on. The ball would pass back + forth in the BLRC end for 10 minutes with nothing to show for it but bruises for both sides until another BLRC penalty was converted by White into another 3 points. Minutes later White had another chance from just inside the BLRC half, and made good on it.
Just before the half, the BLRC forwards found the proper gear and mauled a lineout over the Bays line. The try would be awarded to Admir Cejvanovic. James Reekie converted and the half would end 13 to 9 for the Blue + White.
The 2nd half started with some hard hitting forward play on both sides. The BLRC forwards stole a ruck, and then crashed and mauled their way into the James Bay end where 2nd row Ryan McHollister barreled over the line for the try! Reekie with the convert and it was 20 to 9 for the home side! Off the kickoff the BLRC pack kept the pressure on, making the scrums difficult for the Bays and stuffing run after run; pushing James Bay back into their 5m line. The ball went from Dalziel to Nolan Miles who tried to relieve some pressure with a clearance kick from the end zone but Admir blocked the kick and it went bouncing out the back. The BLRC set a perfect platform in the scrum and #9 De Guzman got the ball to Reekie who found a streaking Giuseppe Laudisio who dotted down in the corner. The convert was kicked a little wide so the score sat at 25 to 9.
The ensuing 10 minutes would see Burnaby’s defense break down and the Bays start breaking tackles. A long JBAA drive would culminate in a BLRC penalty right between the posts and another 3 points from the boot of Sean White. Off the kickoff, a missed tackle in the BLRC backline led to a long run by White and an offload to Dalziel who invaded deep into BLRC territory. A BLRC infraction gave the opportunity for a lineout at the Burnaby 5m line. The JBAA forwards made the play and Gillespie would be at the back of the maul when it crossed into Try territory. White converted and the score was a very close 25 to 19.
With about 15 minutes to go and James Bay on attack, an errant pass in the back field put the ball into the hands of Joe Dolesau. “Burnaby Joe 2.0” took off and sliced his way through a few would be tacklers before being taken down at the JBAA 22 meter line. BLRC played slow ball crashing the big guys into the James Bay line. Much credit to James Bay; Having to defend against the likes of Ryan Ackerman, Nate Mantle + Ryan McHollister smashing into you play after play is no fun, but they were up to the challenge, bending but not breaking for 3 and a half straight minutes. But, eventually the levy broke as Micha Govorchin got the ball about 10 meters out, pumped his legs and drove through 3 defenders for Burnaby’s bonus point! The conversion was wide. 30 to 19 for the Blue + White.
After some back + forth ball, a clearance kick by Reekie trapped the James Bay winger against the line, where Laudisio would wrestle him out of bounds. The BLRC would win their lineout and create a strong maul. Admir saw some space on the left and took off from the back of the maul to score untouched in the corner. Reekie was wide again. 35 to 19.
The BLRC would use all their subs as a greying, grizzled (but handsome) Cory Turkington would replace Rain at scrum half. Anthony Luca gathered in the JBAA kickoff and Turk would start the play moving left where Dolesau would go on a big run, followed by a great run from Matt Alexander. The ball would work back left to Admir who had a big run before offloading to Dolesau for another one as the BLRC marched downfield. Joe flipped a behind the back pass to Lackner who fed it to Turkington in space with only 1 man to beat….who promptly brought Turkington to the ground. The BLRC forwards would retain the ball and send it to Reekie who was wide with a drop goal.
The game would end as it began, with a James Reekie kick. The final kick: a conversion after James intercepted an errant JBAA pass and raced in for a try. Final score was BLRC 42, James Bay AA 19.
It was great to get that monkey off our back. Thanks to all the players, coaches, managers, trainers and the 5 GREAT refs we had on Saturday. We look forward to hosting the Lomas this weekend.
www.burnabylakerugby.com Many Teams~One Club
