Burnaby take one from a tough United squad

March 27, 2010 saw United’s premier women visiting Burnaby Lake’s premier women. Always strong in the midfield and with promising talent upfront, United were coming off of strong performances, including a victory over Velox on the Island.

By Ian Trevor

March 27, 2010 saw United’s premier women visiting Burnaby Lake’s premier women. Always strong in the midfield and with promising talent upfront, United were coming off of strong performances, including a victory over Velox on the Island.
United opened the scoring when great work by the United forwards sucked in Burnaby’s defenders creating space out wide for United’s Mia Ruston to score in the far corner.
United then threw a defensive blanket over the Burnaby midfiled. Time and again as Burnaby tried to find gaps to the outside United were able to shut down the threats with good tackling and timely interceptions.
United’s strong defense forced a tactical change and Burnaby started running to the inside, with Anna Schnell directly attacking the gain line. Anna’s strong running eventually created half gaps for Kary Steele to make her presence felt and possession and territory eventually began to roll Burnaby’s way.
Burnaby’s first try was engineered from that willingness to be patient. Julia Sugawara’s blindside break from a ruck started the movement. Julia was just caught by a United defender prior to being able to break away, and the ball was eventually recycled into the hands of Emma Hadfield who promptly spotted a gap and took off.
Indeed, Emma was clearly not in a mood to be stopped, as a United defender found to her shock. An attempted intervention of Emma’s progress resulted in the United defender finding herself flat on her backside thanks to a hand off that would have done a running back proud. The move was eventually capped off with Laura Harmse, continuing her habit of being a thorn in the side to her old club, scoring near the posts. The try was converted by Anna Schnell
The remainder of the first half was primarily a see-saw battle between the two 22’s, however just prior to half time Burnaby was able to make a final incursion into the Untied 22 which eventually resulted in a 5 metre scrum to Burnaby. #8 Laura Harmse picked and ran to the right and was stopped short of the line. Jody Dobush, always ready to do the hard yards, took the initiative and completed the movement to score by the post. Anna Schnell converted.
The second half started out well for Burnaby, as the forwards and backs were able to maintain possession and work their way into the United 22, where quick ball from a ruck was passed to Kim Donaldson on right wing. Ever the opportunist, Kim gratefully touched down for her second try in as many games. Both tries incidentally were scored while supporting the backs out wide from earlier phases.
United responded with pressure up the middle and hard work at the breakdown, and attempts to run wide on Burnaby. Burnaby’s back three were up to the task, and successfully kept United at bay.
United eventually went the aerial route to gain territory, that Tanya Hamilton, Devon Luca and Deb Capps were only to happy to run back.
One such kick found it’s way to Tanya Hamilton, who then proceeded to force her way up field despite the attentions of a couple of opponents. Tanya was able to keep the ball infield and offload to the supporting Burnaby forwards. Burnaby continued the move and eventually Mel Miyazaki continued her habit of haunting United and scored Burnaby’s fourth try.
Burnaby continued the momentum and two minutes later Anna Schnell set up Burnaby’s fifth try on switch move with Mel Miyazaki. Mel darted 20 metres to dot the ball down between the posts. Anna Schnell added the convert to make the score 31 – 7 for Burnaby.
United responded and was able to hold Burnaby off the scoreboard for the rest of the match. Their tenacity was eventually rewarded with a Jenna Imai try late in the game to make the final score Burnaby 31 - United 12.
Burnaby is fortunate to have Anna Schnell, Julia Sugawara, Kim Donaldson, Corrine Jacobsen, Maria Gallo and Marie Eve Brind’amour all playing for the National Senior Women’s Team. The NSWT is holding a World Cup prep camp in Alberta over the next couple of weeks, and we wish them, and indeed all of Canada’s representatives, well,
Their departure will give others a chance to step up to the challenge of premier rugby and at the end of the day the experience will be to the benefit of those players and ultimately the club as a whole.

Posted by Roko at April 3, 2010 05:47 PM