Ravens Speed to Win over Castaways: Ravens 66 – CW 32
by Peter MacDonald
On a beautiful fall day on a dry pitch at Jericho the Ravens blew open a close game late in the first half with their back line speed and they never looked back from there.
CW brought it to the Ravens for much of the first half through their big, powerful forwards retaining possession and running hard and straight off the ball but they were trailing the Ravens 19-13 after being held up in goal at the 35 minute mark. It appeared to be anyone’s game at that point. But two quick tries from movements initiated by fly half Aaron McLelland brought the halftime score to 33-13 and CW were on the ropes.
Five first half Raven tries were followed by another five in the second half with the last 20 minutes seeing a flurry of tries by both sides. While the Raven forwards had held the fort with good defending in the early going it was the Ravens’ backs that were the difference makers. McLelland (NZ national high school 7s rep), centre Noah Bain (Canada 7s) and winger Mark Wandeto and fullback Aga Ligamy (Kenya 7s) joined by scrumhalf Alex Ball bring a bucketful of experience, movement and outright speed that is difficult to contain on a fast track. That was the story on the day.
Other notables included CW flanker Steve Pyke and winger Pavlos Silvestros and the Ravens’ lock James Carson, #8 David Carson, who also was throwing in at the lineouts, and centre Sean Pyle who had two quick tallies in the second half. Unfortunately, Raven hooker and try scorer Dan Cervino went out injured in the first half. The Raven front row was aided though by newly arrived prop Keenan Kayser and by an impact sub, coach Chris Taylor, at hooker. Kicker Alex Ball was 8 out of 10 try conversions with many coming from the sidelines.
In the clubhouse after the game Cole Keffer, a long-time friend of Nick Allen, spoke from the heart about Nick’s injuries and the fundraising drive to help his family. Please help if you can.
Kudos to Callum Botchar who received a first cap with the Canada 15s on Saturday. Callum played at Magee high school, Ravens juniors, UBC and Pacific Pride and has worked hard and soaked up the game along the way. He follows Mike Burak (2004) and Callum Morrison (2015) as recent big men from the Ravens and Brock Staller (2016) and Reegan OGorman (2017) as Vancouver public school grads who have been capped in the last decade.
The Rippers set the pace for the day with a 65-31 win. The club puts its premier and premier reserve undefeated records on the line away to UVic on Saturday.