Sevens Victories

Congratulations to the BLRC Lighthouse sevens team on their wins in the Rowers sevens and SFU sevens tournaments.

The weekend has come and gone, I hope that nobody has lost a few days of their lives, what with all the weddings and partying in Kamloops!!! At least somebody was having fun. Out here on the coast, we were up at Burnaby Mountain having a picnic - with some Sevens Rugby thrown in for good measure. It was the 27th Annual SFU Sevens Tournament, and what a day it was. Lots of solid Rugby hits, nail-biting moments and just sheer jubilation as the Burnaby Lake Lighthouse Sevens Team was crowned champion for the second time in as many tournaments. YES!!!
The day started with a win over arch-rival Youngbucks, followed by a nail biting nervous game against the Brit-Lions. I think the boys underestimated the Brit-Lions and for a while there were some very tense and anxious looks on the faces of their strong fan base watching from the sidelines. In the end, it was another win to the Lighthouse. The boys, for some reason, were playing immediately after the ladies from Seattle who called themselves the MUDHENS. They also decided to set up camp right next to the Lighthouse Tent and as soon as they finished their game, they would come by and said to the boys "we won, now it's your turn". By some luck of the draw, the schedule was like this until the final game. We played right after them - a good omen I think - so it was agreed that if we're lucky enough to be invited to next years SFU sevens again, we will set up camp right next to each other again.
After the game against Scribes, which was marred by very very poor refereeing, we found out that we would be playing against the Brit-Lions again in the semis. They were dispatched a lot quicker this time on our way to the finals- and another meeting with the Youngbucks, who took care of the LOMAS in the other semi.
After some words of encouragement from the MUDHENS, who had just won their finals, the boys took the field for the last time.
Midway through the first half, the Youngbucks were leading 15 - 5. Not a very good way to start the final but a look of calmness and quiet determination could be seen on the Captain's face as he jumped unassisted to steal a lineout and trotted up field like a pony possessed before unloading to Asesela Vunituraga who ran through a couple of Youngbucks Jonah Lomu Style. After receiving the RED Card from the same referee at the Rowers Sevens, Sela was on his best behaviour up at the mountain. He took his aggressive style to the opposition by hitting them hard in tackles. At least one player from all the teams they played was given the HIT. It was crunching and loud, the loudest of which was the hit on one of the youngbucks backline boys. There was a chorus of awwwe from the sideline all the way to the beer garden as if they had been hit themselves. Poor guy was driven back at least five metres. Sela quickly got up and drove the other guy that got the ball out of touch!! It was a thing of beauty!!
Halftime score was 15-12 and after some long striding runs from captain Bruce Rauqe, who ran like he was being chased all day by a woman in a long hat riding a broom, the final score came in our favour 22-12. Bruce scored 8 tries as he led the boys in Black & White to the final victory. They are now 2-0 in the tournaments they've entered so far. Not bad for a bunch of guys put together through the love of the game and are now having so much fun running around on the shores of Burnaby Lake!!

Next up is Abbotsford.

from the blog of Roko Kapaiwai. To read more visit Roko's BLOG