BC Premier Results: Caps Top Rowers, Ravens Edge CW, UBC Drop Lomas, Pride Defeat Burnaby, Vikes Eliminate Bays
This is the final week of the regular season and the quarter-final matchup possibilities are coming into focus. UBC will finish #1 and will host either JBAA or Lomas. The 2nd/3rd place battle is a little more murky as the BCRU has CW and Ravens tied on Points Ratio .833 [ed. BCRU have now removed the standings table] but CW listed at 24 points and Ravens at 21 points apparently due to a points reduction in a Ravens match, an action that’s being contested by the Ravens. It’s likely the winner of the CW v Ravens match will finish in 2nd pending any competition committee decisions. Burnaby and Capilano are vying for 4th/5th, again complicated by the uneven schedule. UVic looks good for 6th, Rowers 7th and Bays and Lomas battling it out for 8th.
Capilano 66 v Vancouver Rowing Club 12 @ 14:30
Referee: Shanda Assmus Assessor: Brett Hay
Venue: Klahanie Park
The Caps make an emphatic statement to end the regular season and claim 4th place and a home quarter-final against Burnaby. The Caps may be the surprise team of the playoffs, defeating the Pride and CW in the regular season. The Rowers finish in 7th place and earn a trip to the Ravens in the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals take place April 23rd with the Canada 7s in Vancouver taking the stage next weekend.
PREGAME
Caps are 4-2 with 20 points. They currently sit in 5th place but a win could put them as high as 3rd depending on other results. They’re coming off a big road win against the Bays. They are missing their standout #10, Jeremy Simonm, which may impact their performance. Sam Franklin takes on the #10 role. There’s a change in the starting front row with only Neil Courtney remaining, James Ritzema starts hooker and Jesse Ryan at tighthead. Their veteran #8 Glenn McKinnon is also out of the starting XV with Haward Mulundi moving from wing to blindside and Jordan Harvey to #8. Cam Waddell moves from centre to wing with Ben Cameron starting in the centres.
The Rowers are 2-5 with 14 points. They currently sit in 7th place. Their roster is not available at the time of writing.
Caps at home, even with the roster changes should be favourites. Prediction: Caps by 5.
Capilano
1 – Neil Courtney
2 – James Ritzema
3 – Jesse Ryan
4 – Reid Tucker
5 – Nick Pearce
6 – Haward Mulundi
7 – Cori Hamill
8 – Jordan Harvey (C)
9 – Chris Robinson
10 – Sam Franklin
11 – Cam Waddell
12 – Ben Cameron
13 – Johnny Franklin (C)
14 – Eligh Papin
15 – Phil LeLievre
Rowers
TBA
Castaway Wanderers 31 v UBCOB Ravens 38 @ 14:30
Referee: Saro Turner
Venue: Windsor Park
The Ravens finish in 2nd place and host the Rowers on the 23rd. CW finish in 3rd and host the Vikes in the quarter-finals. Our Ravens +1 prediction looked dire in the first half with CW ahead 24-7. Ravens battled back 24-12, 14-17 and eventually 24-24. CW edged ahead 31-24 only to see Ravens tie the game 31-31 and then steal the game at the end, 38-31.
PREGAME
The Ravens sit at 5-1 with 5 BP but the BCRU have them listed as 21 points instead of 25, apparently some point deduction taking place but there has been no public statement made on the reason. They’re coming off a narrow win over the Pacific Pride which was preceded by their first loss to UBC. One change to the front row as James Carson comes in at tighthead. Kiernan Collie moves into the second row. Matt Chan starts at blindside and Alex Ball replaces Billy Wickham at scrum half. Tyler Hume returns to the roster at wing. A couple of interesting names on the bench, Cole Mosychuk, who played with Burnaby and Westshore before heading off to Hong Kong for a season. He’s a dynamic loose forward. Also Jason Gagnier, from Alberta who played at Westshore for many years, he’s a solid second row. Missing is their talented #8 Brian Moylett.
CW are also 5-1 with 4 BP at 24 points. Their only loss was three weeks ago against Capilano. They haven’t played since then, they’re well rested but will the two weeks of inactivity be a help or a hindrance? The big change for them is the return of Grady Bowd at #10, with Jordan Tait moving to fullback. The only change in the forwards is Alex Clark getting the start over John Braddock at hooker. They also have an interesting name on the bench, Mike Fuailefau, the former Canada 7s player who played a couple of games in the Coastal Cup for the Island Tide.
It looks to be a winner take all for second place, the CW loss to Caps is worrying but it was without Grady Bowd, how much of a difference will he make? The Ravens have been more consistent and are coming off two top level matches against UBC and Pride. Travel to the Island is another variable. Prediction: Ravens by 1.
Note: Gate on the day will be donated to the Victoria Ukrainian Society to support families relocating to Victoria.
CW
1. Gavin Kratz
2. Alex Clark
3. Jack Sponarski
4. Liam Chisolm (c)
5. John Humphries
6. Mike Finnemore
7. Steve Pyke
8. Cam Sandison
9. Zech Pilgrim
10. Gradyn Bowd
11. Dan Griffiths
12. Brandon Schellenberger
13. Daniel James
14. Mike Adibe
15. Jordan Tait
16. John Braddock
17. Cam Hayward
18. Riley Ilnicki
19. Sawyer Herron
20. Matt Sutherland
21. Mike Fuailefau
22. Angus Boyd-Porter
23 Gareth Sandner
Ravens
1 Tom Kaijaks
2 Jesse Mackail
3 James Carson
4 Kiernan Collie
5 Trevor Helgason
6 Mathew Chan
7 Blain Meek
8 David ODonoghue (c)
9 Alex Ball
10 Jasper Mellish
11 Sean Hase
12 Jake Gibson
13 Colby Mitch Mason
14 Tyler Hume
15 Aaron McLelland
16 Kris Tay
17 Sawyer Barth
18 Guido Suez
19 Jason Gagnier
20 Cole Mosychuk
21 Jack Scher
22 Dan Pelletier
23 David Thompson
James Bay AA 16 v University Of Victoria 18 @ 14:30
Referee: Cole Pedrick Assessor: Carter Haddow
Venue: U Of Victoria- Wallace Field
Another close match with an 8-8 scoreline at the half. The Bays went ahead 16-11 with 5 minutes left before the Vikes crushed their playoff hopes with a late try and conversion for a 18-16 win. That puts the Bays out of the playoffs and gives the Vikes a trip down the road to visit CW in the playoffs.
PREGANE
UVic are in playoff spot #6 with a 3-4 record and 18 points. It’s a similar lineup to the one that squeaked by the Lomas last week in Vancouver. Nick Carson is moved to the bench with Asfand Saeed starting at second row. Also moved to the bench is openside Merlin M’Cloud with Ryder Heaney-Corns getting the start. In the backs James Thiel gets the start on the wing and Liam Clark at outside centre.
James Bay are currently in 9th spot. This is a must win for them to claim the last playoff spot, they need a win and a Lomas loss in order to proceed to the playoff quarter-finals. They’re coming off a sizable loss to Capilano in their last match. They’re missing their captain and tighthead prop, Blake van Heyningen, from the starting XV. Andrew Macpherson moves over from loosehead and Dakota Lachance starts at loosehead. Shea Wakefield comes into the roster at blindside flanker.
UVic have run hot and cold, pushing the Ravens hard, a good win against Rowers but just getting by the Lomas by +3 last week. The Bays only have one win and that was against the Lomas. Could go either way but Vikes, on a 2 game win streak, go in as favourites. Prediction: Vikes by 4.
UVic
1 Owen Kokan
2 Nathan Yue
3 Denver Fatt
4 Benjamin Newhook
5 Asfand Saeed
6 Ayo Ogunlade
7 Ryder Heaney-Corns
8 Marcus Lott
9 Ethan Smith
10 Gabriel Casey
11 James Thiel
12 Andrew Easson
13 Liam Clark
14 Jonas Robinson
15 Ethan Hager
16 Hanno Fourie
17 Max Hassel
18 Brendan Kim
19 Nicholas Carson
20 Merlin M’Cloud
21 Chris Gamage
22 Shane Rikley-Krindle
23 Payton Gibson
James Bay
1. Dakota Lachance
2. Austin Creighton
3. Andrew Macpherson
4. Andrew Montgrand
5. Jimmy de Goede
6. Shea Wakefield
7. Jake Slobodian
8. Alex Jordan cpt.
9. Crosby Stewart
10. Mitch Sora
11. Keith Graham
12. Mostyn Findlay
13. Thomas Burton
14. Ryan Boothroyd
15. Owen Brombal
UBC 50 v Meraloma 19 @ 14:30
Referee: Ryan Alguire Assessor: Thomas Cooper
Venue: UBC- Gerald McGavin Centre
UBC complete an undefeated regular season with an emphatic 50-19 win against the Lomas. UBC will host the Lomas again in the quarter-finals. If all ranked teams go through the quarter-finals it could be a UBC v Capilano semi-final but the Caps v Burnaby quarter-final game should be epic.
PREGAME
UBC are top of the table and this result won’t change that, so motivation becomes a key factor. Last week UBC looked good with the starting XV but fell off the pace when the bench was cleared. Josh Tweed gets the start at loosehead with Cali Martinez moving to tighthead. The rest of the forward pack remains unchanged. Ethan Berry gets the start at #12 with Landon Clironomos moving to the wing.
The Lomas are in 8th spot, 2 points ahead of the Bays. A Lomas win or Bays loss sees the Lomas advance to a rematch of this game in 2 weeks. There’s no Lomas roster at the time of writing.
UBC go in as favourites, unbeaten this season, but a drop off in performance for the second 40, like last week, could make the game close or even cause an upset. Prediction: UBC by 12.
UBC
1. Joshua Tweed
2. Jacob Bossi
3. Calixto Martinez
4. Frank Carson
5. David Carson
6. Donald Carson
7. Owain Ruttan
8. Alfie Scopes
9. Jacob Bourne
10. Max Abercrombie
11. Jared Andrews – Almack
12. Ethan Berry
13. Takoda Mcmullin
14. Landon Clironomos
15. Matt Percillier
16. Iain Mctavish
17. Payton Teneycke
18. Sol Jaques
19. Izzak Kelly
20. Connor Byron
21. Kilick Saxer
22. Alastair Marshall
23. Maxwell Radcliffe
Lomas
TBA
Burnaby Lake 32 v Pacific Pride 33 @ 14:45
Referee: Christopher Assmus Assessor: Miriam Sobrino
Venue: Burnaby Lake Rugby Club
The only prediction we got wrong this week as we called a Burnaby +2 result. We look forward to Mike Devlin’s match report. Burnaby now have to travel to Capilano on the 23rd which should be the most competitive of the quarter-finals as you would expect from a 4th vs 5th match. Many of the Pride players will now be focusing on getting selected for the May 14th Canada West vs American Raptors game. The Pride travel down to Seattle in a couple of weeks to take on a mixed Seattle club team / Seattle Seawolves academy team.
PREGAME
The Pride have a 4-3 record and are coming off a 7 point loss to the Ravens. The Pride aren’t eligible for the playoffs but will want to end the season with a win. A couple of changes in the front row with Dan Cooper starting at hooker and Tyler Matchem at tighthead. The only other change in the forwards is Cal O’Neil starting at blindside. In the backs the only change is Taylor Desouza starting on the wing.
Burnaby have a 5-2 record with 22 points. That puts them ahead of the Ravens (5-1) with the Ravens point deduction (-4) but on points per match it’s 3.14 ppm compared to Ravens 3.5 ppm. A Burnaby win combined with a Ravens loss could put them in 3rd place. A loss combined with a Caps win could put them in 5th place. Cooper Johnston returns at second row moving Doug Breadon to blindside flanker. Ethan Turner gets the start at #10 and Andrew Porter moves to outside centre. Lucas Albornoz comes into the reserves.
This in a way seems like a rematch of the Pride vs Van East match back in September. In that match Van East went up quickly and the Pride fought back to nudge the Burnaby based side at the whistle. Will it be history repeating itself or counter balancing? The image of Lucas Albornoz making an impact off the bench is strong. Prediction: Burnaby by 2.
Pride
1) Willem Den Ouden
2) Dan Cooper
3) Tyler Matchem
4) Alastair Bruce
5) Conor Turner
6) Cal O’Neil
7) Cody Nhanala
8) Calum Botchar
9) Sam Riemer
10) Max Stewart
11) Taylor Desouza
12) Dawson Fatoric
13) Kal Sager
14) Gabe Smith
15) Oliver Mackenzie
16) Dewald Kotze
17) Aaron Clark
18) Kyle Steeves
19) Zephry Melnyk
20) Zack Raymond
21) Sean Snyman
22) Noah Flesch
23) Matt Klimchuk
Burnaby
1. Lalit Bhardawaj
2. Dylan Vermette
3. Nik Hildebrand
4. Cooper Johnston
5. Mike OToole (c)
6. Doug Breadon
7. Connor McCann
8. Taitusi Vikilani
9. Dean McMahon
10. Ethan Turner
11. Kou Odaka
12. Cole McQeen
13. Andrew Porter
14. Blake Steele
15. Brian Fitzpatrick
16. Preston Petrovitch
17. Liem Jung
18. Darog Smith
19. Lucas Albornoz
20. Fuku Vikilani
21. Dom Baptista
22. Mohi Parata
23. Cian Keegan
STANDINGS (click on image for larger view)
