3rds and 1sts win. Elite suffer first loss of the season

On what was a cloudy and soggy day at the lake, Burnaby Lake Rugby
Club hosted Vancouver's Kats and Meralomas in the third, first and
elite divisions.

The day started off with Burnaby's 3rd division winning with a 20-12
decision over the Kats. A good hard fought victory. Strong
performances by Paul Murphy, Marcel, Scott Braeden, and Kelly
Hirakida.

The first division continued their fine play with a 70-5 victory over
the Lomas. They were able to execute early and often in a game they
dominated. Tries were scored by Alec Douglas, Butters, Josh Rolls,
Turk, McCluskey, Angus, Barry and others. Strong performances by Alec
Douglas and Josh Rolls. All credit to the Meralomas who kept up a good
effort to the very end.

In their first action in two weeks, the elite men looked to continue
the club's winning ways versus the Loma's elite. They showed no signs
of rust, going up 14 - 0 in the first ten minutes. The first try came
when an errant clearing kick found its way into an accelerating
Burnaby winger Issac who touched down for a converted try. Burnaby's
second try was awarded to Garreth Marsden who touched down under the
posts thanks to a clever phase involving nearly all the backs. The
Loma's weathered the initial storm and showed hard edge that has made
them a leading contender over the last couple of seasons. They
rebounded strongly, first with Mike Hall flyhacking an errant Burnaby
knock-on through the back line to score a converted try. The game was
square five minutes later when the Lomas after several phases worked
the ball to right winger Derick Townsed who touched down in the corner
for a try, Eric Wilson converted. The rest of the half was a
wrestling match played out between the two teams' 22s. All square at
the half.

The half started off with Burnaby having made a mistake at the
kickoff, and finding themselves defending a scrum ten yards from
their line. A turnover ball found its way into Burnaby center Joe
Dolesau's hands. Making the most of his opportunity he quickly stepped
one defender, stiff armed another and outpaced two others before
touching down for a seventy metre try. The conversion was missed.
Unfortunately Burnaby were not able to take advantage, as the
increasingly dominating Lomas scrum disrupted Burnaby's flow which
struggled on the wet day. Two Eric Wilson penalties put the Lomas up
20 to 19 with eight minutes remaining. The hopes of the Burnaby
faithful were eased when Burnaby flyhalf James Gough kicked a 35 metre
penalty with 5 minutes to go to nudge Burnaby ahead by the slimmest of
margins. After the ensuing kick off Burnaby were dinged following a
pick and drive series resulting in Eric Wilson converting from 30
metres out to give the Lomas a one point advantage.

In the dying minutes Burnaby found themselves pinned in their half
through more intelligent kicking by the Lomas. This is where the game
ended after a series of scrums.

the team look to take the positives out of the first defeat and learn
their lessons leading up to their match at UBC next weekend.

Thank you to the Lomas and the Kats and to referee Alan Tynan.

Posted by Rain at November 7, 2010 09:16 PM