BLRC Premier Women 5 – Velox Vahallians 24 (by Walt Brandl)
Sometimes an abundance of minor details grows into a major force. Such was the case last Saturday when the Burnaby Lake women tilted against perennial finalists Velox. After weathering an initial Velox onslaught Burnaby worked down field and applied pressure. But, as was to be the pattern on the day, a ball lost in contact, a soft missed tackle and pressure was lost. The Velox players would execute basic skills neatly and make sound decisions and steadily the score would roll up. Although effort was not lacking from both the Burnaby starters and the numerous reserves inserted into the fray, they had their guns trained unerringly at their own feet. Velox made good headway through the forwards on numerous occasions before spreading the ball wide and outside the scrambling Burnaby D. The second half was more of the same with Velox in firm control with business-like efficiency with only a last play of the game try by Carolyn McEwen spoiling the clean slate. Final score 24-5.
Burnaby must now beat the Seattle Breakers in two weeks (April 26) at the Lake to ensure a home semi-final play-off game, most likely against the United Rugby Club.
BLRC 3rd Div 12 – Capilano RFC 24
A great day of club on club rugby started at 11:30 when the 5th place Burnaby Lake squad took on the powerful + undefeated Capilano 3A side! The Caps are an extremely well drilled side from top to bottom and few (if any) of their players would look out of place suiting up in a 1st division team. The home team showed what they were made of right off the bat, with their large #12 running over a few would be tacklers to score the game’s opening points. It looked like it would be a long day for the BLRC, but the team buckled down and answered back when Casey Evans broke a few tackles and went on a run before offloading to Tom Menzies who touched down to tie the game. Colin Thompson’s conversion put the BLRC in the lead, and suddenly a W over the 1st place Capilano team didn’t seem quite so daunting. The BLRC defense would hold off the Capilano attack for the rest of the stanza and take the lead into the 2nd half.
A BLRC prop was assessed a red card to start the 2nd half and this changed the dynamic of the game entirely. Where once the scrums were even, now the Caps had a major advantage and they used it to maul or drive in 3 tries in quick succession with 2 converts to put them up 24 to 5 late in the game. The BLRC kept fighting though and led by Casey Evans and Ben Bradley never let the game seem out of reach. Evans had another outstanding game at Fullback making huge runs every time he got the ball, piercing the Caps D over and over to get the BLRC back in scoring position. He would be rewarded with a try for his efforts late in the game. The BLRC had the momentum in the final 5 minutes, but time ran out before they could put any more points on the board. Final score 24-12 This was as entertaining a 3rd div match as I’ve seen in a long time. There were some huge hits, big runs and well executed plays from both teams that brought the early crowd to their feet! Capilano should finish the regular season with a well-deserved top ranking, and we’ll see where the Blue & Whites finish after their final game next weekend vs Kelowna. It’s been an up + down season for our 3rds so far, but if they can play the way they did on Saturday, they can be competitive with any team in the playoffs!
BC Rugby News correspondent Steve Feenstra made my job easy by writing up comprehensive play by plays of the Premier + 1st Div games. I decided not to write up redundant match reports, as Mr. Feenstra seemed to have a pretty good handle on the events on the pitch! For the BCRN report please click on the link:http://www.bcrugbynews.com/show_news.cfm?ID=1262
BLRC 1st Div 35 – Capilano RFC 31
A gritty comeback that couldn’t have come on a better day. Most would agree that it’s better to have a battle than a blowout leading into the playoffs. It gets you in the right frame of mind for the battles to come! For some insane reason the 1st Division playoffs don’t start for 3 weeks. Hopefully the team can stay focused until next month’s home game vs James Bay.
BLRC Premier Men 25 Capilano RFC 19
BLRC vs Capilano games are always great! The supporters on both sides are passionate + vocal, the players are willing to sacrifice to gain or save points for their club! For Capilano, McKinnon led in the pack as he does, always making positive ground with the ball. In the backs, Harry Jones couldn’t be ignored. As you would expect from a player of his calibre, he was dangerous on attack every time he got the ball & a wall on defence. In the 2nd half, I stepped in to grab a beverage from the newly updated Capilano bar, and came back to find him being helped off the field with what I was told was a head injury, I hope it’s nothing serious… Although I wouldn’t be against him missing the next game… and then make a speedy + full recovery to keep moving Canada up the 7’s leaderboard!
For the BLRC, the pack was brilliant. The day called for a nasty + surly group, and the boys delivered. The back row of Admir Cejvanovic, Doug Breadon + Scott Plummer stood out for me. In the backs, Cody Rockson was a dominant force all game, and Brian Murphy saved AT LEAST 2 tries with his stellar defence.
It was great to have a club day with all of our Men’s teams together. It’s a shame that the stars couldn’t have aligned to have our clubs Premier Women’s team face off on Saturday as well, but it was great to see a handful (or more) of our women’s program travel to Klahanie after their game to cheer on the guys! The Caps were great hosts, and I hope that they had a great day at their bar. I know that it’s tough to keep a club as big as Capilano in the black with only 7 home dates/year. Harder still when the visitors have to rush to catch a ferry half the time. I hope that this date was targeted as a big date for the bar, and I hope we came through for you.
The BLRC host the Capilano Premier team in 2 weeks. If you are in Vancouver + looking for some rugby on the 26th please come down to Burnaby Lake. These teams never disappoint.
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Many Teams~One Club www.burnabylakerugby.com
