Weekend Results: Pride Pounce on UBC; Vikes Edge TWU; Bays Upset CW; Ravens Dominate Caps; Lomas Stop Rowers; Seattle Defeat Burnaby
It’s the first week of the BC Rugby season so a lot of unknowns in rosters and team strengths. The Coastal Cup seems to be the most serious competition, the teams are fired up, rosters out early, and coaches are well organized. UBC, Pride, UVic and TWU are competing for this cup.
The Barnard Cup is a 3 team competition between CW, JBAA and Westshore. The traditional rivalry between CW and JBAA will make this an exciting game. CW are current holders of the Gerwing Shield so they’re putting that on the line as well on Saturday.
The Mainland teams seem to be taking a mixed approach to the 6 week regional competition. Some are treating them as pre-season games with extended rosters, 3 teams haven’t published rosters at the time of writing. It has been a couple of years since Seattle has been active in the BC Premier due to border complications during COVID. UBCOB Ravens have a strong squad this season, and look to be one of the early favourites from the Mainland group.
Pacific Pride 56 v UBC RFC 28 @ 14:30
Referee: Saro Turner Venue: Westshore
When the Pacific Pride were first started in the 90s their emblem was a young lion, hence the term Pride. Today they pounced on an unsuspecting UBC early to go ahead 35-7 before the game evened out later in the second half. Zephyr Melnyk at blindside for the Pride had a massive game and Sion Griffiths looked sharp at scrum half. The Pride travel to TWU next weekend and UBC host UVic.
PREGAME
Like most Week 1 matches, the predictions are going to be tenuous. We’ll go largely by last season’s results but rosters have changed to some degree.
UBC have lost a clutch of their Carsons, most going to Ravens, who should have an amped up roster this season. There’s still Hillyard Carson at second row and Jack Carson at scrum half. They have a lot of Canada U20 talent coming through. As usual we expect a strong forwards effort and a run full out for 80 minutes effort from the T-Birds.
The Pride loose forward trio look to be the core strength of the team, Nhanala, Melynk and Botchar. Sion Griffiths moves from centre to scrum half and Noah Flesch moves from loose forward to centre as coaches look long term to give players their best shot at moving to the next level.
Key areas to watch will be the battle in the set pieces and how the two #10s manage the game. UBC left points on the field with their kicking for goal accuracy last season, although it didn’t stop them winning the Premier title. We’ll see who does the kicking honours this match. Just based on last year’s results, the edge has to go with UBC. Last season, on March 12th 2022 we predicted a +3 win for the Pride and UBC ended up winning +40, ouch. We’ll start cautiously. Prediction: UBC by +5.
Pacific Pride
1 Willem de Ouden
2 Austin Creighton
3 Kyle Steeves
4 Reid Davis
5 Alistair Bruce
6 Zephyr Melnyk
7 Cody Nhanala
8 Callum Botchar
9 Sion Griffiths
10 Max Stewart
11 AJ Kosempel
12 Taylor de Souza
13 Noah Flesch
14 Jack East
15 Oliver Mackenzie
16 Dan Cooper
17 Aaron Clark
18 Tyler Matchem
19 Sam Miller
20 Matt Klimchuk
21 Sam Reimer
22 Justin Taylor
23 Ben Russell
UBC
1. Joshua Tweed (U18/U20)
2. Jacob Bossi (U18/U20)
3. Conor OFlaherty
4. Hillyard Carson (U20)
5. Caden Wilson (U20)
6. Sol Jacques (U18/U20)
7. Thomas Foote
8. Alisdair Bulman (U20)
9. Jack Carson (U18/U20)
10. Max Abercrombie (U18)
11. Jared Andrews – Almack
12. Ethan Berry
13. Forest Scarwenner
14. Alistair Marshall (U20)
15. Matt Percillier (U18/U20)
16. Raymond Chou
17. Cole Dreyer (U18)
18. Payton Tenneycke (U18/U20)
19. Joshua Downes
20. James Biss (U20)
21. Talon Mcmullin (U18/U20)
22. Jacob Bourne
23. Kieran Martin
University Of Victoria 42 v Trinity Western University 39 @ 14:30
Referee: Derek Horton AR1: John J De Goede Venue: U Of Victoria- Wallace Field
One of the games where our prediction was accurate, we called Vikes +5 and it was Vikes +3. The match is also a University Championship qualifier with the Vikes and TWU looking to join hosts UBC at the November tournament. Vikes visit UBC next week and TWU host the Pride.
PREGAME
Word is that TWU will surprise some teams this year, coach Andy Evans has been working diligently to put together a top squad and it looks like he’s close. Tamilore Awonusi returns from a stint with the Ireland 7s squad, he was scoring on a try per match basis last season at TWU, wouldn’t be surprised to see him get one on Saturday. Favour Olaniyan played Coastal Cup this summer and did well. Caleb Gerth at #8 has been a strong player for them. Sam Wegert went to the Seattle Seawolves in the second round of the MLR draft this year. He’ll be looking to back that up on the field on Saturday.
UVic have their halfback combination back, both Logan Martin-Feek and Jenner Teufel were out with long term injuries last season. Feek was a 1st round draft pick of the Arrows last season but due to injury never played a game. Denver Fatt who was drafted by the Arrows in the 3rd Round is starting at tighthead. James Thiel, younger brother to Jake and Josh, gets his first start on the Premier side at wing.
The Vikes won +11 when these teams met in October 2021, some similar lineups, Vikes had Gabe Casey and Noah Bain at the time. TWU didn’t have Ethan Jurgeneit in the roster for that match but did have Guiseppe du Toit in the centres. Going cautious again. Prediction: Vikes by +5.
UVic
1 Owen Kokan – Point Grey Secondary
2 Ryder Heaney- Corns Claremont Secondary
3 Denver Fatt – St. Georges School
4 Asfand Saeed – Victoria High School
5 Ayo Ogunlade – Brentwood College
6 Merlin MCloud – Montague Regional High
7 Lucas Okano – Collingwood School
8 Marcus Lott – Oak Bay High
9 Jenner Teufel – Shanwigan Lake School
10 Logan Martin-Feek – Claremont Secondary
11 James Thiel – Robert Bateman Secondary
12 Andrew Easson – Oakville Trafalger High School
13 Shane Rikley-Krindle – John Abbot College
14 Jonas Robinson – St. Michaels University School
15 Ethan Hager – Brantford Collegiate
16 Sully Curran – Kelowna Secondary
17 Max Hassel – Western Canada High
18 Phoenix Moller – Robert Bateman Secondary
19 Muridach Casey – St. Michaels University School
20 Ruben Eppel – Sir Charles Secondary
21 Ethan Smith – Carson Graham Secondary
22 Graeme Norris – Shawnigan Lake School
23 Angus Boyd-Porter – Gonzaga
TWU
1. Ethan Jurgeneit
2. Scott Bowers
3. Favour Olaniyan
4. Erik Niebuhr
5. Martin Zubiri
6. Genaro Gandolfo
7. Caleb Van Til
8. Caleb Gerth
9. Fynn Murphy
10. Matthew Willemse
11. Tamilore Awonusi
12. Collin Lagat
13. Sam Wegert
14. Lynden Duggan
15. Jan Lourens
16. Seth Klassen
17. Ben Tindall
18. Grayson Hardie
19. David Wegert
20. Nate Schroeder
21. Connor Gibbons
22. Ethan Bernardin
23. Max Darcy
Castaway Wanderers 19 v James Bay AA 20 @ 14:30
Referee: Cole Pedrick AR1: Claude Paterson Venue: Windsor Park
A bit of an upset as the Bays claim the Gerwing Shield and go ahead in the standings for the Barnard Cup. The Bays host Westshore next week while CW have a bye.
PREGAME
CW won the last meeting of these teams in March 2022 by +12. They are missing Grady Bowd, their talismanic #10, and results haven’t been quite so predictable with him out of the roster. We hear Michael Smith will be lacing up the boots at CW this year but no sign of him in this roster. Ollie Nott is in the roster however at #12, a good addition. Gabe Smith has come over from the Pride on the wing, Antonio Corbin from the Ravens. Some veterans as well like Jake Ilnicki, Clayton Daum, Mike Finnemore, Brandon Gerhardt and John Braddock. It looks a competitive side ready to pick up from last season when they made the finals. When Bowd and Smith are added to the mix, they’ll be formidable.
We’ve heard Tyler Rowland will be with the Bays this fall but he doesn’t show up in the starting XV. Kainoa Lloyd is back in the squad. We haven’t seen their 16 to 23 so there could be some strong impact players. A few names we don’t recognize like Wyatt Pibs and Tom Richardson and a number of veteran players like Jim de Goede, Peter Massimo, Blake Van Heyningan and Andrew Macpherson are in the roster. It’s a new season, they have a new coaching team led by Tony Healy, we’ll see how the Bays look this season after Week 1.
Based on last year’s results, home match for CW, they’ll go in as favourites: Prediction: CW by +8.
CW
1 John Braddock
2 Alex Clark
3 Jack Sponarski
4 Gavin Kratz
5 Nat Dring
6 Matt Sutherland
7 Steve Pyke
8 Mike Finnemore
9 Ian Hickman
10 Jordan Tait
11 Joe Massyn
12 Ollie Nott
13 Dan Griffiths
14 Gabriel Smith
15 Harry Elliot
16 Jace Peters
17 Jake Ilnicki
18 Brandon Gerhardt
19 Antonio Corbin
20 Clayton Daum
21 Sawyer Heron
22 Gareth Sandner
23 Mike Adibe
JBAA
1. Andrew Macpherson
2. Jake Slobodian
3. Blake Van Heyningan
4. Andrew Montgrand
5. Jim de Goede
6. Peter Massimo
7. Wyatt Pibs
8. Tom Richardson
9. Crosby Stewart
10. Mitch Sora
11. Kainoa Loyd
12. Tom Burton
13. Mostyn Findlay
14. Isaac Gonevou
15. Craig Mitchell-Hermann
Seattle 29 v Burnaby Lake 13 @ 14:30
Referee: Visiting Referee Venue: Starfire Field
Seattle get a good start to the season, while Burnaby will look to bounce back next week when they host the Rowers. Seattle will get a strong test when they visit the Ravens next weekend.
PREGAME
Burnaby had a disappointing season last year by their standards, they finished 6th and were eliminated by the Caps in the quarter-finals. We’ll see how they bounce back this year.
Seattle weren’t in the shortened league last season due to border COVID restrictions. We had to go way back to February 2020 to find a roster for them in the BC Premier competition – it will be interesting for comparison if they eventually publish their roster.
The last match result we found for these teams was September 2019, a +39 win for Burnaby at home. Seattle usually a stronger team when hosting. It’s the first match of the season, unknown playing strengths, so it’s a toss up. Prediction: Burnaby by +5.
Burnaby
1. Lalit Bharadwaj
2. Dylan Vermette
3. Bryce Worden
4. Cooper Johnston
5. Ish Mulema
6. Jonah Fridfinnson
7. Connor McCann
8. Dom Baptista
9. Dean McMahon
10. Neil MacLaine
11. Jack Gelbart
12. Connor Byron
13. Cian Keegan
14. Scott Barr
15. Ethan Turner
16. P Petrovich
17. L Jung
18. L Bradley
19. T Menzies
20. A Cockayne
21. N Shelley
22. J Coen
23. J Koorsten
Seattle (February 2020)
1. Henry Hall
2. E Tiauli Halleluiah
3. Matthew Duncan
4. Chase Bates
5. Taylor Krumrei (Seawolves)
6. Jonathan Valz
7. Matthew Potter
8. Eric Soto
9. Shoop Sidney
10. Jonny Reid
11. Lauina Futi
12. Matt Brennan
13. Levi Penter
14. Sequoyah Burke Combs
15. Ian Wright
16. Jasper Bowen Shepherd
17. Sam Taungakava
18. Danny Sonon
19. Ben Gustafson
20. John Stone
21. Jack Cannon
22. William Stowers
23. Will Brennan
Seattle (Sept 10th)
1. Freddy Tafuna
2. Halleluiah Tiauli
3. Matthew Duncan
4. Jamie Demers
5. Chase Bates
6. Kellen Gordon
7. Matthew Potter
8. Adam Page
9. Jack Canon
10. Devereaux Ferris
11. Jacob Perkins
12. Matt Brennan
13. Joey Lincoln
14. Jeremiah Sio
15. Cecil Ala
16. Jasper Bowen Shepherd
17. Lu Alainuuese
18. Liam Noone
19. Ben Gustafson
20. Tomasi Puletu
21. Isaiah Chinen
22. Clay Markoff
23. Oida Ryuhei
Capilano 40 v UBCOB Ravens 52 @ 14:30
Referee: Christopher Assmus AR1: Tyler Dawson AR2: Riley Robinson Venue: Klahanie Park
We were close on this one, calling Ravens +8 and they were +12. The Ravens went up 26-0 at the half. There were rolling subs allowed in the match and the match went to uncontested scrums at one point according to an observer. The Ravens had a roster of 26 and apparently Caps played 35, the Reserve match was cancelled. It will be interesting to see if Caps go rolling subs when the Lomas visit next week. The Ravens host Seattle.
PREGAME
The Ravens have added a number of players that graduated out of the UBC championship team last season. Connor Sampson, Frank, David and Don Carson, it’s going to be a strong pack this season for the Ravens. Aaron McLelland at #10 is a good move, one of the best backline players in the league for many years usually worked his magic from fullback. Alex Ball #9 looked good on their tour to Glendale in the summer. Noah Bain has been added to the squad this year as well. Chris Taylor is the head coach this year, taking over from Simon Fitzgerald.
The Caps had a strong season last year losing to eventual winners UBC in the semi-final. They didn’t play the Ravens in the shortened season so this will be a good test. We don’t have their roster at time of writing so we’ve posted their April 2022 roster for reference and update later.
The Ravens look to be one of the form teams this season. Prediction: Ravens by +8.
Ravens
1 Connor Sampson
2 Matias Suez
3 Tom Kaijaks
4 Frank Carson
5 James Carson
6 Don Carson
7 Jake Ikeda
8 Matt Bluck
9 Alex Ball
10 Aaron McLelland
11 Mark Ruga
12 Noah Bain
13 Sean Pyle
14 Matt Chan
15 Henry Bibby
16 Nato Gucake
17 Jono Wong
18 Joe Sourisseau
19 Trevor Helgason
20 David Carson
21 Sam Duggan
22 Keith O’Connor
23 Santiago Guadarrama
24 Joey Kirwan
25 Jake Moyniham
26 Cole Keffer
Capilano (April 2022)
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
Meraloma 33 v Vancouver Rowing Club 23 @ 14:30
Referee: Shanda Assmus AR1: Brett Hay AR2: Brittany Blackford Venue: Connaught Park
We called Lomas +3 and it was Lomas +10. Lomas visit Caps next week while Rowers visit Burnaby.
PREGAME
The Lomas won the previous match in January 2022 by a slender +3 and without seeing the current form of the teams that seems like a good starting point.
The Rowers don’t have their roster posted at time of writing so we’ll put in their March 2022 roster and compare if and when it’s published.
Prediction: Lomas by +3.
Meraloma
1 Pat Zuk
2 Mark Rickard
3 Tom Dunne
4 Darragh Foley
5 Dave Matthews
6 James Harborne
7 Evan Galvin
8 John Willis
9 Paddy Kirwin
10 Tommy Viljoen
11 Dewi Williams
12 Andy Cooper
13 Jad Hamade
14 Quentin Coetsee
15 Ben Featherstone
16 Scott McGinley
17 Richie Barrett
18 Adam McLean
19 Nick Neubert
20 George Woofenden
21 Jay Younger
22 Ryan McLaghian
23 James McTurk
Rowers (March 2022)
1. Josh Waller
2. Jason Carton
3. Eddy Quinn
4. Felix Grignon
5. Kelly Anderson
6. Ian Prendiville
7. Ray Bissonette
8. David Dumas
9. Dermot O Meara
10. Nick Wackwitz
11. Mitch Stainer
12. Tom O’Hare
13. Ryan Williams
14. Chris Nolan
15. Harvey Rowland
16. Jake Schwartz
17. Eddy Quinn
18. Callum Bulman
19. Spencer Cooper
20. Duncan James
21. Morgan Branson
Rowers (Sept 10th)
1. Spencer Cooper
2. Liam Litchfield
3. Gregory Crowe
4. Rob McGreevy
5. Felix Grignon
6. Jack Nerraw
7. Tom Brennan
8. Ian Prendiville
9. Dominic Howard
10. Nick Wackwitz
11. Andy de Torres
12. Spencer Morgan
13. Ollie Joyce
14. Mitch Stainer
15. Jordan Wilson-Ross
16. Josh Waller
17. Will Moore
18. Callum Bulman
19. Tom O’Hare
20. Ray Bisonette
21. Martin Eriksson
22. Chris Nolan