Not a Masterpiece
Ravens 26 – UVic 25
Report by Peter MacDonald
In a rematch of last year’s Premier final, the Ravens managed to squeak out a win despite being dominated in the sets, losing half of their lineouts and holding only about 30% of possession. Like the Cleveland Cavaliers, UVic were the clear winners “analytically and in the expected score”. Defence and one moment of good rugby by the Ravens in the dying minutes was the difference.
UVic drew the Ravens into a kicking exchange for much of the early going with #10 Cooper Coats and #15 Mike Oughtred playing yards with their opposite numbers Jamin Hodgkins and Andrew Coe. Generally, this meant the Ravens were ceding territory, playing in their own end letting UVic dictate. So, after 12 minutes it was 12-0 to UVic with a quick penalty tap and pass to try scorer Coats and then an ill-advised high ball fielded by Coats who then jinked through defenders and sent a long pass to winger Greg Leitch for a tally, with both try scorers wide open and untouched on their way in.
A quick pep talk/tongue lashing by captain Hamish Janes seemed to help as the Ravens responded by returning to their recent meal ticket, the maul, to close the gap and then scrum half Max Kahler sent Coe through a small blindside gap at a ruck for a 30 metre straight run to the corner, 12-12 at 30 minutes. High energy and strong runs by flanker Brian Ndiranghu and lock Drew Denford led the way at this stage. But giving away penalties at the sets and overthrowing lineouts handed UVic more ball and territory and they made the Ravens pay with a penalty kick and a third try finished with another long miss pass to Leitch on right wing, 22-12 UVic at the half.
In the second half the Ravens had only two brief periods of attacking possession, but they capitalized on both. Straight from the second half kickoff lock Max Boulanger forced a not releasing penalty against UVic. A kick to touch, lineout and maul sequence sent Lois Kassapian in at the back of the maul, 22-19. Following a twenty-five-minute period of UVic pressure which included some bad rugby by both sides, (UVic: two blown overlap passes going straight into touch and a wishful chip kick when stymied at the Raven line, and the Ravens: not straight lineouts and being blown up in the sets) the Ravens finally put together three phases of good rugby.
With less than five minutes remaining UVic hoisted their own ill-advised high ball which Coe fielded. He drifted left, then straightened up and sent the ball onto Hodgkins and Paddy Kirwan. Ruck ball then moved right, and Jake Ikeda made a run out of the backfield that the game had been crying out for, a hard inside line with a reaching right hand inside pass to a hard running Kassapian. Quick ball to the right again through Niko Andrianos to Hodgkins stretched the UVic defence and Hodgkins’ subtle hands and quick burst and a defender’s indecision saw him through a hole and across the line where he slotted the easy conversion for a lead the Ravens were able to see out.
UVic may rue a couple of decisions, and the Ravens will have to go back to work on set pieces but it’s early in the season with lots of time to figure things out. The Rippers picked up a second win in a row, 21-0 over Kelowna, so there was a good aftergame vibe hanging with the UVic guys whose evening ferry was cancelled unfortunately stranding them in town for the night.
Next week another tough game at the Caps.