BLRC Women 81 – Seattle 0
The women opened the day at Burnaby Lake with an emphatic victory over the visitors from Seattle. With the margin of victory this large it is hard to pick out great individual performances but Ciara Malone stood out in the backs and Taylor Kapaiwai stood out in the forwards. The win pushed the BLRC Ladies into 2nd place in the Adidas Premiership and set up a home semi-final against United RFC on May 3rd. Thanks to Seattle for making the trip up and for sticking around for a few drinks & to take in the Men’s Premier game later that afternoon.
BLRC 3rd div 10 – Kats RFC 26
Coach Cargo’s 3rds headed to Brockton Oval for a Quarter-final match against the Kats at 1pm. The Blue + White battled hard against a talented Kats team but found themselves out gunned as the veteran West Side club controlled the play for the better part of 80 minutes. In spite of the loss, veteran Graham Cross put in a performance that will go down in BLRC history as he crawled out of a pile up with a swollen jaw, pouring blood & spitting chiclets. He stayed in the game for 5 more minutes and scored a highlight reel try before one of his team mates stopped him and notified the coach. After a trip to the hospital and some X-rays it was revealed that he had completely broken his jaw in 2 separate places along either side of his chin. Golly will be eating through a straw for the foreseeable future but has yet to complain and just offered to cook the BLRC’s Thursday night meal. He’ll have no idea if it tastes good! We wish the Kats the best of luck for the remainder of their season.
BLRC 30 – Capilano 17
For the 2nd time in 3 weeks the BLRC would clash heads with our friends/rivals from the North Shore. The playoff game brought rugby fans from all over the Lower Mainland and club colors from the Surrey Beavers, Rowing Club, UBC, Richmond, Langley RFC and Abbotsford to name a few joined the Capilano & BLRC supporters in the bleachers and around the pitch. Big thanks to these supporters who came up the clubhouse and to the many that stayed around for hours and supported the BLRC bar. It was very much appreciated!
The action on the field between the 2 clubs doesn’t need any build up. Most people reading this will already know that the word “playoff” isn’t needed to create an intense matchup. Both teams came flying out of the changing rooms with some nasty looks on their faces, intent on doing some damage!
Cole McQueen would open the scoring for Burnaby Lake after a great series of passes that saw Jeke Gotegote spring Brian Murphy through a hole between the centers. Muph popped to McQueen who fended off his opposite and touched down between the posts. Geoff Ryan was good on the convert and the BLRC led 7-0 five minutes in.
At the 7 minute mark, Admir Cejvanovic and Gurvinder Kalar would play a little give & go while moving the ball from the BLRC 10m line all the way in for a try! The Capilano defense pushed Adi wide on the try and the convert would prove difficult for Ryan, but the BLRC found themselves up 12 to 0. Ryan would add to the lead 10 minutes later when Capilano was penalized directly in front of the posts. 15 -0
At the 20 minute mark, Capilano took advantage of a BLRC penalty and kicked for touch, finding themselves with a lineout at the home team’s 5m line. The Caps would batter the BLRC goal line defense with wave after wave of forward crashes and the BLRC would close the gates, but Jesse Ryan found a hole and dove into it to put the first numbers on the Capilano score sheet. Matt Simms hit the convert and the score was 15-7.
The BLRC answered back immediately when #9 Cody Rockson saw some space from the back of the ruck and took off, gaining about 35 yards before off-loading to Gotegote who was wrestled to the ground. The Ref decided that the Capilano defense wasn’t allowing adequate opportunity to present the ball which gave Geoff Ryan another chance to add 3 points. 18-7
Capilano would put another try on the board before the half was done when Brady Carpenter read a pass like a Feast for Crows and picked it off going 100 mph towards the BLRC line. Cole McQueen tracked him down at the 5m line, but Capilano would go back to the tried + true Forward ball and test the BLRC D for 6 phases before spinning the ball wide to Austin Karius who was met at the goal line by Joe Dolesau. The collision forced the players out of bounds and into AR Drew Sagar. Blue + White supporters felt that Karius was out of bounds, Black + Gold that he touched the ball down first. The Refs decided the latter was the case and awarded the try. Convert wide, and the half would end 18-12.
The 2nd half was a see-saw battle with Capilano perhaps getting the better of the exchange until Matt Alexander broke through the centers untouched to score between the posts. Ryan was good on the convert and the BLRC were in charge 25-12
Burnaby Lake scored again through an Admir Cejvanovic freight train run from the 10m line. The big guy rumbled through a half dozen defenders to touch down. The convert was wide and Burnaby Lake finished their scoring for the day. Gareth Dyer answered off the kickoff for the Caps, breaking through the middle to score + finish the scoring when the convert banged off the posts.
The BLRC will continue on to face James Bay in the Rounsefell Cup again this year. It should be another great game, and the guys are looking forward to it. This weekend at Burnaby lake the BLRC women will host United and the 1st Div will host James Bay in semi-final matches. Thanks to the BCRRS for supplying great official on the day!
Many Teams~One Club
