Ravens Edge Lomas in the Rain Ravens 27 – Lomas 19: Report by Peter MacDonald
On a cold, wet, windy day at Connaught the two west side clubs gathered at midfield for a moment’s silence to honour long time Meraloma member Chas Teeple who recently passed away. Chas was a skilled flyhalf, a class guy and a lover of rugby and of the camaraderie that surrounds it. I recall watching him play in the late 1960s when he led the St Georges backline and later when he manned the #10 jersey with the Lomas. Looking around the sidelines at the game on Saturday there were Bobby Brown and referee assessor on the day Al Hudson who were Chas’s teammates and friends back in the day. Raven Rick Bourne was a high school rival and later a friend. There’s a long BC rugby through line from those days to today.
As for the game, both teams slogged through rough conditions with the Ravens coming out on top on the back of 20 minutes of strong play just before and just after halftime. At 35 minutes, with the Lomas up 7-3, big lock Don Carson was offered a hole in the Loma backline 30 metres out. He gladly took it and powered through fending off the cover defense which never had a hope. Then, just before the whistle, hooker Vian Wolmarans was first to the breakdown causing a penalty against the Loma ball carrier for not releasing. The kick to touch and lineout set up a crash by #8 Joe Locke followed by another from Don Carson who with support from behind by David O’Donoghue was not going to be stopped, 17-7 at the half.
At 50 minutes, after Jack Carson popped through from the base of a ruck, the ball moved to fullback Nick Blain whose hard dummy had his opposite number bite as he cut inside to the posts. A Raven penalty goal struck after some Loma dissent then staked the Ravens to a 27-7 lead. The Ravens’ lead was built on consistently breaking the gain line as well as turning over Loma ball at the breakdown. But the Lomas came back into the game over the last 20 minutes as their pack in the loose and in one big set stepped it up.
At 65 minutes the Lomas mauled the ball across the line but the referee deemed the ball was held up. After discussion with the near assistant referee the call was reversed, a penalty try given and a yellow card handed out to lock Ethan MacDonald for taking down the maul, 27-14. Wolmarans was then binned shortly after for foul play and the Ravens were down to thirteen men. They held up well while shorthanded but when back at full strength at 75 minutes the Loma pack blew them back at a set drawing a penalty from which they ultimately mauled the ball in for their third try matching the Ravens’ count but with a missed conversion it remained a two-score game, 27-19 which is where it ended.
The Lomas 9/10 combo of Thompson and Thomas ran a structured attack, winger Keith Graham high stepped and cut back through the Ravens a few times and O’Brien and Galvin in the pack plus the substitute front row forwards stood out up front. Joe Locke was on fire all day for the Ravens in attack and defence putting out a ton of energy driving the ball forward and tackling. Wolmarans played with passion and in the backs Jack Carson, Ethan Berry and Nick Blain stood out. There wasn’t much between the two teams so in any future meeting it will be a toss up.