BC Rugby Weekend of April 20th 2024

BC Premier Quarter-Finals Results & Rosters: Westshore and UBC Advance to Semi-Finals

The BC Rugby leagues enter their final 3 weekends with quarter-finals this weekend, leading into the semis next weekend and finals at Burnaby on May 4th. In men’s Premier the Meralomas and UBCOB Ravens have claimed semi-final berths and will host the winner of the quarter-finals next weekend.

The results are in an it’s the visiting teams that won both matches, Westshore will take on Lomas next week and UBC will visit the Ravens.

Burnaby Lake 23 v Westshore 30
Referee: Shanda Assmus AR1: Bradley Schwalger AR2: Miriam Sobrino
Venue: Burnaby Lake Rugby Club Comment: QF3

An upset win for Westshore, they go from making the playoffs on a tie breaker with UVic to winning a place in the semi-finals. They’ll face Meralomas next weekend.

PREGAME

These two teams met in February at Westshore and Burnaby came out slightly ahead 32-29 in the match. It was the strength of the Burnaby forwards vs the attacking prowess of the Westshore backline in that match.

Burnaby missing a few key players this week, Reid Watkins at scrum half who was dominant in the earlier win over Westshore isn’t in the roster. Siaki Vikilani and Lucas Albornoz also are absent. Bryce Worden captains the team from his tighthead prop position and he was a dominant force in their earlier win over Westshore. James Catterson takes over the #8 role and James Kelly moves to blindside flanker.

Westshore are trying out a new halfback combination, moving scrum half Malcolm Klaver to #10 and bringing Grayson Perry to the starting #9 role. Tom Heuser returns to openside after missing the last match. Liam Clark starts at inside centre and Jeff Oluoch moves to outside centre.

Both teams are coming off heavy defeats, Westshore to the Pacific Pride and Burnaby to the league leading UBCOB Ravens. Burnaby will want to play a structured game focused on their forwards advantage while Westshore will want to play to their advantage of an expansive game. It was close last time, Burnaby are missing some key players but have the important home field advantage.

Prediction: Burnaby by 3.

Westshore

1 Justin Tasse
2 Brian Waraba
3 Kane Perrett
4 Brian Ndirangu
5 Matt Weir
6 Seth Recalma / Jade Billington
7 Jade Billington / Tom Heuser
8 Alvin Otieno
9 Malcolm Klaver / Grayson Perry
10 Payton Gibson / Malcolm Klaver
11 Braeden Bespalko
12 Jeff Oluoch / Liam Clark
13 Darian Morrison / Jeff Oluoch
14 Nelson Oyoo
15 Johnstone Olindi
16 Toby Berg / Matt Evans
17 Nathan Groenewold
18 Daragh Carroll
19 Brayden Gray
20 Witt Nevins / Payton Gibson
21 Keating Teft / Darian Morrison
22 Liam Clark / Alex Mentiply
23 Peyton Eagar / Hudson Poppitt

Burnaby

1 Luka Bradley
2 Cass Kocevar
3 Bryce Worden (c)
4 Cooper Johnston
5 Leo Chen
6 James Catterson / James Kelly
7 Jack Bolton
8 Lucas Albornoz / James Catterson
9 Ezequiel Rossetti
10 Reid Watkins / Ethan Turner
11 Kimi Vunituraga
12 Neil MacLaine
13 Scott Barr
14 Hayden Mulgrew
15 Ethan Dromgool
16 Jamie Kelly / Evan Turner
17 Lalit Bharadwaj
18 Iain Kennell-Webb
19 Dom Baptista
20 Sam Tsoi / Jonah Fridfinnson
21 Colton Lee / Mohi Parata
22 Mohi Parata / Sam Williams
23 Brian Murphy

Castaway Wanderers 19 v UBC 24
Referee: Julianne Zussman AR1: Cole Pedrick AR2: Derek Horton
Venue: Windsor Park Comment: QF2

Another close match and another win for the visiting teams. UBC will visit the UBCOB Ravens next weekend.

PREGAME

These two teams met last week to close out the regular season, UBC won that match at home 45-33. It was a game that each team dominated for periods of time, UBC led at the half 26-7 but CW had a strong 3rd quarter and tied it up at 26-26 after 60 minutes. UBC won the final quarter and the match.

CW have made made some changes, Denver Fatt and Nick Carson come off the bench to start. Sion Griffiths is back in the roster at inside centre and James Mitchell replaces Gabriel Smith on the wing. Mike Fuailefau makes an appearance in the reserves.

UBC have only one change in the starting XV, Niko Andrianos replaces Kieran Martin on the wing.

Last week it was Takoda McMullin at fullback who made the big plays for UBC, Alastair Marshall and Talon McMullin in the centres helped UBC have the edge over CW in the backs. The CW forwards got the job done when they got possession close to the UBC line.

Home field will be a big advantage in this contest, having Sion Griffiths back in the centres with Mike Fuailefau available in the second half will help equalize the advantage UBC had in the backline.

Prediction: CW by 2.

1 Jace Peters / Gavin Kratz
2 Jacob Bossi
3 Gavin Kratz / Denver Fatt
4 Tom Davidson
5 Mike Finnemore / Nick Carson
6 Steve Pyke
7 Jack Wallace
8 Ollie Nott
9 Zech Pilgrim
10 Andrew Easson
11 Gabriel Smith / James Mitchell
12 Matt Sutherland / Sion Griffiths
13 Shane Rikley-Krindle
14 Jordan Ng
15 Gareth Sandner
16 Scott McCann / Jace Peters
17 Denver Fatt / Kyle Hohert
18 Nick Carson / Mike Finnemore
19 Ayo Ogunlabe
20 John Humphries
21 Conor McKenzie
22 Hugh Mager / Mike Fuailefau
23 Brandon Schellenberger

UBC

1 Koen Buckingham
2 Tate Hartley
3 Payton Teneycke
4 Hilyard Carson
5 Caden Wilson
6 Sol Jacques
7 Callum Arnesen
8 Relmu Wilson-Valdes
9 Stephen Webb
10 Jacob Bourne
11 Jared Andrews-Almack
12 Talon McMullin
13 Alastair Marshall
14 Kieran Martin / Niko Andrianos
15 Takoda McMullin
16 Ethan Lee / Graeme Francolini
17 Akihito Yoshida / Emmett Allen
18 Thor Noble
19 Joe McNulty
20 Sandon Gupta / Ethan Lee
21 Demitri Patterson / Lenny Bonduau
22 Ben Martin / Caleb Seumanutafa
23 Caleb Seumanutafa / Kieran Martin

Playoffs All Divisions

There’s quarter-final playoff action in all divisions this weekend, except women’s Premier and Div 1 which go straight to the semi-finals next weekend.

UBC 24 – CW 19
Westshore 30 – Burnaby 23