from Mike Devlin
I was told last May by someone at BC Rugby that we were the first club to put teams into all 3 of BC Rugby’s marquee Provincial Championships on the same day. I don’t know if that’s true or not. Last year we went 1 and 2 in the Finals with only our Premier Women claiming the title. We had huge support from our club with over a hundred club members plus another 80 players invading Victoria for the weekend. We were across the strait, but to listen to the crowd, you’d think that we had home field advantage! This year we accomplished that feat again and with the games happening across the 2nd Narrows Bridge, I was expecting a big crowd! The BLRC didn’t disappoint! They came from Kamloops and they came from Kelowna, they carpooled, there were supporter’s buses to and from our clubhouse, there were RV’s involved in case too many drinks were imbibed (luckily a beer shortage prevented this from becoming a problem), and the road in + out of Klahanie was a parking lot for much of the day! If you were a fan of the Blue & White, Saturday was a tremendous club day! It was my favorite day as a member of the Burnaby Lake Rugby Club and made me proud to be a member!
BC Women’s Final: BLRC 20 – Velox 7
Had you laid bets on a BLRC Women’s Championship victory in October you would have found some VERY favorable odds. For years names like Marley Harris (Riordan), Kary Steele, Anna Schnell, Maria Gallo, Corinne Jacobson, Kim Donaldson, Emma Hadfield, Katie Larson, Melissa Miyazaki and Brenna Glover took the pitch every Saturday and their leadership, commitment and unbelievable skill would lend confidence to the young women around them…powering the BLRC to 6 Gordon Harris Memorial Trophies in the last 11 years. In the past 2-3 seasons the BLRC have withstood the loss of over half a dozen legends of BC Women’s Rugby, but led by Iona Schamberger and Laura Harmse in the forwards and team captain Julia Sugawara in the backs the team continues to win.
This would be the 4th consecutive Premier final contested by the BLRC and Velox. The BLRC carried a 2 to 1 advantage in the series but were seen as underdogs against an unbeaten Velox squad who trounced our club at home only a few weeks ago. I was told that the game plan to start the day was a “rope-a-dope” strategy; absorb the barrage from the much larger Velox team and when they’re tired hit back in a flurry. The BLRC put on a clinic in this regard as they absorbed the punishment dished out by the impressively large Velox forwards. At the 20 minute mark the BLRC found themselves down 7 to 0 after a series of Velox crash balls and a convert would pay off for the Island team. That would be their last points however as the fresher + more mobile BLRC team dominated the next 60 minutes of play. Captain Julia Sugawara showed her calibre with 2 tries, and Carolyn McEwen added one with Cat Ohler adding 5 points from the boot.
With the final whistle, we may have lost one more legend as Laura Harmse claims to have hit her last ruck. While I hope it’s not true, I’d like to congratulate her on a tremendous career. 7 BC Premier Championships: 5 with BLRC, 2 with Douglas and numerous individual accolades, National Championship and a few belt buckles highlight her trophy case! This match may have been a passing of the guard as numerous young women stood up today to win this championship and make their name known. The flanker combo of Deb Capps + Nancy Radman were outstanding racking up an unbelievable tackle count and more bruises than either would care to count. The 2nd row duo of Haley Glendenning and Alicia Noger were involved in every breakdown and controlled the lineouts with ease. Loose head prop Carolyn McEwen is the total package in a rugby sense as she is a powerful scrummager who can make plays with the ball and knows how to find the try line. She was outstanding all game, never giving an inch in the scrum. Our young wingers Angel Santos + Ciara Malone were threats all day, and both picked a great day to play their best rugby!
I would like to thank the unsung heroes of our women’s program for their hard work this year. Head coach Walt Brandl and his team of Ian Trevor ad Corinne Jacobson as well as the hardest working man in show business, team manager Roko Kapaiwai!
Men’s Premier 1st Division Final: BLRC 48 – UVIC 10
2 battles vs UVIC this spring in the Ceili’s Cup competition combined with a devastating loss to a star studded Norsemen team this time last year had the BLRC frothing at the mouth pre game. One look at Dustin Luther, Andy Drummond, Brad McHugh, Mike James + Craig McLaughlin as they ran onto the field through the tunnel and you could tell that the UVIC pack was in for a long day. As big as the BLRC forwards are at this level, it was the center pairing of Steve Batie and Stu Vincent who truly overpowered their opposition. After a vicious head on head collision last weekend vs James Bay, the duo were playing with over 20 stitches in their combined foreheads but neither gave any thought to sitting out. Vincent had a championship match for the ages scoring the BLRC’s first 5 tries to put the game out of reach! By the time that Stu + Batie were given a much deserved rest, the BLRC were up 27 to 5 and cruising to victory.
The BLRC would get additional try’s from Barry Bonell who subbed in for the injured Anders Blizzard and played an outstanding game with a highlight reel chip + chase try, Paul Murphy and Ryan McHollister. Nolan Shelley added 4 converts. UVIC’s #9 + 15 put up great efforts in a losing cause.
Since 2010/2011 the BLRC 1sts have been a force appearing in 3 BC Finals, winning twice while also taking home a few Lower Mainland 1st div titles! The dedication and grit of veterans like Preston Petrovich, Brad McHugh, Angus Fisher, Alec Douglas, Nolan Shelly, Barry Bonell, Liem Jung, John DeCaire, Cory Turkington and Paul Murphy set the tone for the team and ensure that any club member given the opportunity to play on this team knows it’s an honor to be chosen, and they had better live up to the lofty expectations set by ex-coach Andy Fell and current coach Dave Murphy.
Big thanks to Head Coach Dave Murphy, assistant Greg Cargnelli and manager Randy Johal for a great season!
BC Men’s Premier Final: BLRC 22 – James Bay 23
Say what you will about them, but James Bay knows how to win championships! The experience of players like Nolan Miles, Neil Meechan, Spencer Dalziel and Jim De Geode just can’t be overstated. They know that the regular season is the regular season, but a Championship game demands flawless, low risk Championship Rugby and no one does it better.
Many people saw the BLRC as favourites this year, and our guys certainly earned that distinction. 3 and 0 in the VRU Premier Championship and a 13 and 1 CDI regular season combined with a comfortable playoff victory over a tough Capilano team had many thinking that this would be the BLRC’s year. It had been publicised over and over again that the BLRC had never won the Rounsefell Cup.
Until last year it didn’t seem to matter. Most of our Premier players are in their mid-20 with only 2 topping 30 years of age, so I have to think that they’ll have another opportunity or two at redemption. We’re a young club, barely legal at only 19 years old, and don’t have the 100+ year history and traditions of many of our opponents. We’re still trying to make our own history and create a tradition of our own other than Skittling. (It’s a game where someone wins, but everybody loses) We’re working on a Jaeger bomb line up tradition at the bar… but it’s not the same as a cool catchphrase.
Too many recounts of the game have already been posted by scribes much more eloquent than I, so I’ll save you the boredom of reading my BLRC biased play by play.
Big thanks to Head Coach Kris de Scossa and manager Jone Guana for their hard work + dedication all season long.
Congratulations to the 2014 Rounsefell Cup Champion James Bay Athletic Association.
www.burnabylakerugby.com Many Teams~One Club
