Burnaby Lake Women Wins a Nailbiter at Bayside

It took all of 80 minutes to dispose of Bayside, but the Burnaby Lake Women remain undefeated after the final Whistle

Saturday Nov 14 found the Burnaby Lake Premier Women in White Rock to face the always hungry Bayside Sharks.

Both teams opened up attacking the narrow channels, and it quickly became apparent that the match would be 50% rugby and 50% chess, with tactical nous winning out over flair on the day. Both teams relied on the their flyhalves to get into the right areas of the pitch, and both fullbacks were kept busy.

At the 10 minute mark Burnaby took a tight head from a Bayside put in near their 22, Lauren Tagg spun the ball wide and for once the backs had some space. Burnaby put the ball through the hands, Devon Luca found the left hand corner despite the defensive attentions of a much taller and heavier Bayside winger. Becky Querido converted, and Burnaby led 7-0.

Bayside kicked off and immediately put Burnaby under pressure, with strong inside running. After continued pressure, Inside Centre Tanya Leigh eventuall found her way to the Burnaby in-goal, Hasty added the conversion 7 all after 17 minuttes.

The match then see-sawed back and forth as both clubs fought hard for territory and possession.

Referee Graham Stone was kept busy and eventually Burnaby yeilded a penalty on the 5 metre, which Bayside took advantage of via a tap penalty. The conversion was unsuccessful Bayside 12 Burnaby 7.

Now it was Burnaby's turn for an immediate response, forceful runs by Jody Dobush, Shannon Fedawa and the Burnaby back row of Deb Capps, Marley Harris and Laura Harmse allowed Suelyn Wirth at flyhalf to engineer an opportunity which found Kary Steele in space on the left side with Devon Luca on the outside. Carrying into the 22 Kary straightened her line, causing the Bayside winger to pinch in and attempt a double team tackle with the outside centre on Kary. Kary offloaded wide before being hit, and Devon Luca took care of the rest, again finding the left hand corner. The try was unconverted, and the score was knotted at 12.

The half closed with Burnaby yeilding another penalty to Bayside. Halftime score Bayside 15 - Burnaby 12

In the second half both teams further tightened up. Running angles close to contact and teeth rattling contact were now the order of the day. For Bayside Laura Foreman and Tanya Leigh continued theire assault on the gain line, making hard earned but positive yards, allowing Hasty the opportunity to pin Burnaby back with her tactical kicking. Burnaby responded through the strong counter attacking of Lindsay Bernrot at fullback and the tactical kicking of Devon Luca now at Flyhalf.

Both teams were acting like cagy boxers waiting for the other to make a mistake. A series of blindside runs saw Burnaby work it's way well inside the Bayside 22, with momentum ultimately lost when we went wide one phase to soon. Bayside countered pinning Burnaby back again with perhaps 5 minutes left. Burnaby worked it's way forward again, finally getting deep inside the Bayside 22 gaining the put in to the scrum. The territory came at a price as Devon Luca had to leave with badly sprained ligaments in the right foot.

The Burnaby forwards then grabbed the game by the throat and refused to relinquish the opportunity. With the scrum on the right side and a decent amount of space on the blind the pack broke off and worked their way forwards with the inspirational Kary Steele ultimately powering her way forward for the decisive score at the death.

The try was unconverted final score Burnaby 17 - Bayside 15.

Posted by Roko at November 15, 2009 04:23 PM