Here is the game report from this weekends premier matchup as told by Dave Brown and John DeCaire as well as the result from the rest of the BLRC games…
By Dave Brown and John Decaire
The Burnaby Lake Rugby Club suffered one loss last weekend, with their 1st Div team falling to the Velox, 10 –19. That, however, was the only mar on an otherwise perfect day for Burnaby that saw their Premier Men beat Velox, their 3rd Div Bs beat Langley and their Premier Women beat SFU.
Burnaby Lake’s Premier side took the field against Velox determined to make amends for its previous losing encounter with Bayside. Things started on a poor note for the home side as Ryan Banks knocked on the long opening kick-off from his fellow former National Team-mate, Winston Stanley. The scrum, on the Burnaby 22 gave Velox a great opportunity to launch an early attack. Instead they turned the ball over and then gave up a penalty. The kick to touch by Burnaby fell short but was knocked on by Velox, giving Burnaby a scrum in right field on the Velox 22. Burnaby was not as wasteful. The ball was shifted wide to centre Chris Landry who found the gap and the found fullback Thomas Glasen supporting at pace to take the ball over for an unconverted score.
The home team increased its lead on the 15-minute mark when a penalty kick to touch found its target and the resulting lineout drive was converted into a try for Pat Riordan. Again, the conversion attempt failed. Velox then served notice that it too could move the ball through forceful lineout drives. A series of drives and penalties took the visitors down to the Burnaby goal line where an excellent drive pulled in the Burnaby defenders as the ball was then shifted to Stanley who created enough of a gap for outside centre Mark Collers to force his way over at the posts. Stanley’s convert reduced Burnaby’s lead to 10-7. Within 5 minutes however, Burnaby had added to its lead. Pressuring the Velox attackers in mid-field, Burnaby forced the turn-over and the ball was shifted quickly to 2nd row Jeff Robinson and on to right wing Matt Young who outran the cover to score. The conversion attempt failed once more. Almost immediately from the restart Burnaby looked set to add to its total as Colin McKenzie sent Ryan Banks tearing to the line only for the final pass to be spoiled by some over eagerness to keep the ball alive. At 15-7, the second half started with both teams still in the hunt for the win.
Burnaby struck first when an up-and-under was miss-fielded and the Velox fullback played the ball while lying on the ground. James Read finally converted a kick to give the home side an 18-7 lead. Ryan Banks then made one more telling break and it looked like the strong running Robinson would be rewarded with a try only for a tenacious defending tackle by the Velox cover forcing Banks to misdirect his pass. This was Burnaby’s last real scoring chance as Velox then launched a serious onslaught on Burnaby’s line with a series of strong driving mauls from well-executed lineouts. With 20 minutes to go, referee Upton penalized Banks for pulling down a maul and sent him to the bin. Velox continued its assault and only some last ditch defending, coupled with some Velox impatience, saved the Burnaby line. Banks’ return did not signal an end to the Velox effort and they continued to press right up to the final whistle, which came after almost 7 minutes of time added on for injury. The final score was 18-7, Burnaby. Burnaby’s 4th win this half leaves them in 2nd place with an upcoming visit to James Bay.
The Burnaby Lake Premier Women beat SFU 21-10 at home. Emma Hadfield and D’Alice Marsh scored one try each. Julia Sugawara scored one try and kicked three conversions
The 1st Division Burnaby Lake Men lost at home to Velox 10 –19. Veteran forward Doug Whidden and lock, Mark Wilkinson scored a try a piece for Burnaby. Wilkinson showed a lot of discipline in the game, which has been a challenge for him in the past. As a result Wilkinson’s play was quite solid, making substantial contributions to the game.
The Burnaby Lake 3Bs beat Langley 84-0 in Langley. Single tries were scored by Paul D’Agnolo, Randy King, Mark Pinda, Brendan Murtagh, Ryan Nixon, Frank Furesz and Justin Denman. Garry Henry and Chris MacLaren scored two tries each. Jason Cain scored three tries. Andrew Eckert scored one try and kicked two conversions.
The Brit Lions defaulted to the Burnaby Lake 3As.
On Sunday The Burnaby Lake U-14 (A Div. Tier I) beat the Capilanos 60-31 at home and the Burnaby U-16s beat Ridge-Meadows away 21-17.
