by Peter MacDonald
On a good day for rugby at Jericho some hopes were fulfilled and others dashed as the prems hearts were broken at the end and the Rippers secured a victory late in the game with a stunning interception while Abby was on the boil and the Rips down to 13 men.
UBCOB Ravens 24 v Castaway Wanderers 26 @ 14:30
Referee: David Smortchevsky Assessor: Brett Hay
Venue: Jericho Beach Park
An upset from the Oak Bay based team as they apparently won it on the last play of the game. It sounds like a thriller and we look forward to reading Peter MacDonald’s match report. They’ll face UBC in the final.
by Peter MacDonald
After another long layoff rugby resumed at Jericho with the #2 seed Ravens hosting the #7 seed Rowers in a quarterfinal matchup. The Ravens, missing a few of its leading players through injury and for personal reasons, were fortunate to get the win as it was a hard fought even game that definitely could have turned out differently. It was not a Picasso but a win is a win as they say.
UBCOB Ravens 19 v Vancouver Rowing Club 10 @ 14:30
Referee: Ryan Alguire Assessor: Michael Landiak
Venue: Jericho Beach Park
Ravens won but it was a lot closer than the +18 we predicted. The Ravens without Aaron McLelland, David O’Donoghue and Brian Moylett didn’t put up the points we expected. The Rowers may have upped their game on defence, we’ll wait for Peter MacDonald’s report to hear his insights. It sets up a Ravens v CW semi-final match at Jericho. Ravens narrowly won that match in the regular season.
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.
from Mike Devlin
BLRC on the road to Kamloops by Simon Smoldon
This past Saturday the 1st Div Men & Women of the BLRC boarded the 6am bus to Kamloops for 2 highly anticipated games of rugby at the fantastic new clubhouse & fields that the Raiders have set up. For many of our new players this was a 1st time experience & many were in awe at the landscape & vistas that the locals take for granted…
by Peter MacDonald
A tough game against the Pride went the Ravens way at the end but the Pride gained big respect for taking the game to the Ravens all day long. With the score tied 17-17, and five minutes left, the Ravens fullback Aaron McLelland was served up a room service high clearing kick which he fielded centrally 35 metres out from the Pride line. Moving right and scanning things he made a gap and it was sayonara as he took a direct line at top speed to score the winning try. The Pride could have tied it up three minutes later but for a saving tackle by fly half Jesper Mellish so the Ravens ran out winners in a game that the Pride controlled for much of the day.
We were 5 for 5 on the predictions this week putting us at 31 out of 37 for the season and 84 %, up from 81% last week.
by Mike Devlin
BLRC First Division Men 61 James Bay 6
The Burnaby Lake First Division are really hitting their stride of late.
by Peter MacDonald
This much anticipated game started off with a bang, actually three bangs, as tries lit up the scoreboard one after the other in the first few minutes. The UBC kickoff went straight out leading to a scrum centre to the Old Boys. From there fullback Aaron McLelland sped through a hole on the right side and fed it back inside to scrum half Alex Ball for a try in the first minute. UBC shook that off a second later when, after the UBC kickoff, flanker Owen Ruttan blocked a clearing kick and Frank Carson chased it down, picked up and touched down for a very quick reply. And, not long after that, UBC added another try as scrum half Jack Carson got away and, keeping it in the family, sent flanker Donald Carson in for the try, 12-7 UBC at 8 minutes.