2nd div women – BLRC 71, SFU 5
10am saw the 1st of two Women’s games against cross-town rivals SFU. The match was fairly one sided with the Blue + White running in 13 tries. BLRC standouts “Mean” Jean Lehtinen, Taylor Kapaiwai, (skipper) Brandon Mattin and Anh Tran each ran in 2 tries. Jessica Tortoora, Lauren Tagg, Angel Santos and BLRC newbie’s Breanne Watson and Ruby Moore-Kalia each added singles. Ruby also added a conversion while Kyra Groll added two. Much credit to the SFU girls who gave 100% until the end, and to referee Marcus Treacy for being handsome in his Bangkok 10’s jersey!
Premier Women – BLRC 53, SFU 0
The SFU Women always bring a sideline, and with their Men’s match being played at the Lake at 1pm combined with only 2 BLRC Men’s games scheduled that day, the sidelines (and bar) were crowded early. Many expected a very close game as these squads are very familiar with each other with the BLRC having tangled with the likes of Lalonde, Banford, Laczny and Firman, numerous times in the past few years.
Julia Sugawara’s squad would score early + often as they ran in 9 tries while their blanket defense would keep SFU off the scoreboard. Katie Grudzinski touched down 3 times (she was the Women’s “player to watch” in the game day program… and I’m never wrong) while Genevieve Gratton and Emily Young each scored 2 tries. Carolyn McEwen and Dr. Maria Gallo would also find their way onto the score sheet with tries. Julia Sugawara would add 4 conversions.
3rd div Men – BLRC Blues 18, Abbotsford 21
The BLRC 3-Blue team took on Abbotsford with 1st place on the line. The BLRC were quick out of the gates and took the lead when Colin Thomson converted a 3 pointer after five min of pressure rugby.
Failure to deal with the resulting kick off left the Blue & White with a 10 minute defensive stand, which was well led by Aaron “Blue” Lambert & Liem “Panda” Jung. The BLRC wall was breached after great patience by Abby, mixing attacks through theforwards & backs. Veteran prop Steve Preston was credited with the try; 7-3 Abby. The next 15 min belonged to the Abby 10-12 partnership with inside centre “Bones”, exploiting a couple of gaps in the Burnaby backfield & tallying twice under the posts. This left Burnaby with a big hill to climb, down 21-3 with 5 min to the half. From the kick off the ball was won back & a drive by Wong & Harkins resulted in the ever reliable Dan Schinbein being given 20 yards of space to take it to the house, 21-8 at the ½ & all to play for with the winds at Burnaby’s back.
The 2nd half was dominated by BLRC, and Abby were reeled in ever closer through a 3 pointer from Thomson & a converted try. With the score at 21-18, Burnaby was poised to complete the comeback. Unfortunately at least 3 good quality chances went begging and led to Abby grabbing the win for 1st place in the 3B standings.
Credit to Abbotsford whose defense was well organized & scrappy! Thanks to referee Al Deglan & Abbotsford RFC for the hosting post game. We wish them good luck in the playoffs.
Premier Men – BLRC 76, Bayside 5
The BLRC Premier Men closed out the regular season on a high note defeating Bayside RFC by a pretty wide margin. The White Rock club is rebuilding, and while they have had no issues competing in most games this year, they have found W’s elusive. It wasn’t that long ago that the BLRC were in a similar position. Our game sheets full of committed young local players like Anthony Luca, Andrew Lackner, Doug Breadon, Aaron Goddard, Scott Plummer, Steve Batie, Brad McHugh, Admir Cejvanovic and Rain De Guzman who you could see had the potential for Premier Rugby, but might not have been ready for prime time just yet. Lesser players would have tired of the beatings + hung up the cleats or left for greener pastures, but these men stayed the course as the BLRC was rebuilt around them. Those young players are now 24-28 year olds with 5/6 years of Premier Rugby experience already in their back pockets and the BLRC are reaping the benefits of it. The Premier team has certainly had key additions during the years (Mantle, Ryan, MacKay, Laudisio, Govorchin, McHollister, Thomas, McQueen, Dolesau, Gotegote, Ryan) and we have been fortunate enough to be joined by Piffero, Reekie and Alexander this year, but that core group of guys continue to be why players from across the country and the world make the BLRC their permanent home.
I saw many similarities in the young Bayside squad that travelled to Burnaby on Saturday. The bags piled against the wall in the clubhouse read “Semihamoo SS”, “Earl Marriott SS” or were well weathered Bayside bags. A talented core of young South Surrey locals like Kalar, Timmler, Thorpe(s), Dixon and of course, their star scrum half Cody Rockson, combined with leadership from veterans like Pat Bickerton + Mike Pajic could lead the Sharks back to the top of the Premier League in a few short years. It won’t be an easy road, but with commitment it can happen. The BLRC wish you the best of luck next year and in the coming years.
BLRC try scorers: Thomas, Piffero, Alexander, Ackerman, Bonnell, Cejvanovic, MacKay, Dolesau, McQueen, Mantle, Govorchin, Murphy – Conversions: Ryan (8) Bayside try scorer: Not sure, but Pajic had something to do with it!
www.burnabylakerugby.com Many Teams~One Club
