Burnaby Lake’s Premier Men’s and Women’s sides both managed to leave Connaught Park victorious over the Meralomas this Saturday. Although Burnaby lost in the lower divisions to the Meralomas this last weekend, the Burnaby Premier Men’s win over the favored Meraloma side showed the team’s grit and determination to be near the top of the standings in the Premier league…
The Burnaby Lake Premier Men started the game against Merlalomas in total control and took the lead after just 5 minutes, when Chris Landry found a half gap and squeezed over the line. Kawaguchi, replacing the injured Sean Wright, converted to give them a 7-0 lead. Just 4 minutes later more Burnaby pressure saw Pat Riordan barging over the line following a drive from a line-out. A failed conversion gave the visitors a 12-0 lead. The Burnaby pressure continued with a series of line-outs on the Meraloma 5 meter line. Ultimately, The home side was judged to have pulled the drive maul down one too many times and Sean O’Leary found himself binned. From the next penalty and ensuing line-out drive, Burnaby earned a penalty try which was converted by Kawaguchi for a 19-0 lead after jut 25 minutes.
The Meraloma response was immediate and with O’Leary still in the bin center Palmer was sent crashing over on the right. Direen converted to cut the lead to 19-7. Burnaby looked to have soaked up the home side’s pressure as half-time approached and some 5 minutes into injury time Kawaguchi merely needed to kick a penalty to touch to close out the half. His kick failed, Meralomas countered and punished Burnaby quickly as the ball was moved left for Helmers to force his way through a series of tackles and score out wide. The convert failed but the home side now had the bit between its teeth. Within a minute of the re-start Direen had clawed back another 3 points with a penalty to make it 19-15 for Burnaby. Direen then cut back through the Burnaby defense and scored under the posts, added the convert and the home side found themselves in front for the first time, 22-19.
For the remaining 30 minutes, the lead was to change hands several times leaving the final score in doubt right up to the final whistle. First, Kawaguchi left the field and also left the kicking duties with flanker Ryan Neufeld who succeeded in leveling the scores at the 15 minute mark. A minute later Direen converted a penalty for the Meralomas to push the home side in front 25-22. Burnaby response was a well worked effort by Dave Mattiazzo who came over from his left wing to take a pass from scrum half Turkington and score in the right corner. 27-25 to Burnaby, along with the bonus point, with Neufeld missing the convert. The game may have turned, unknowingly, in Burnaby’s favour in the following minutes as Direen was injured in dangerous tackle and subsequently left the field. Rodrigo came on and calmly slotted the resulting penalty with his first touch to give Meralomas a 28-27 lead with less than 10 minutes on the clock. Burnaby again responded with a try from just inside their own half. The ball was moved left, to full-back Thomas Glassen who made the initial penetration and the move was finished at pace by Landry and finally Mattiazzo who scored under the posts to give Neufeld an easy conversion and Burnaby a 34-28 lead. The home team refused to give up however, and mounted a period of sustained pressure in the Burnaby 22. With less than a minute to go, Burnaby Number 8 Colin McKenzie was shown the yellow card for a professional foul. As he jogged to the bin, Pat Fleck fed captain Brian Erickson who crashed over on the left to score and leave the home side trailing by a point, 33-34, with Rodrigo’s failed conversion attempt to follow. The exciting game ended with this failed kick and with Burnaby securing its 3rd straight win. Burnaby’s next game is a home encounter with Bayside.
The Burnaby Lake Women won 20 – 0 over the Meralomas. Burnaby tries were scored by Dawn William (1), Natalie Roseky (2), and Jessica Dovanne.
The Burnaby Lake 1st and 3As both lost their games against their Meraloma opponents.
