Ravens Defence the Difference
Ravens 50 – Bayside 17
Report by Peter MacDonald
On a beautiful Halloween day with kids trick or treating in the shops on Broadway, pickleballers out in full force by the pitch and boats on the waters of English Bay, the Bayside prems sailed into Jericho for the first time in many years. With the Ravens lacking drone surveillance of the visitors training sessions, who knew what frights the Bayside men might provide.
The visitors opened the scoring early from close range through their forwards but the Ravens answered with three quick tries also finished off by forwards, Joe Locke, Louis Kassapian and Frank Carson. At this point Bayside turned it up a notch and from a lineout they ran a rear wind featuring captain Jesse MacKail, a quick ruck and then a second phase crash by centre Kim Vunituraga which drew in a few Raven defenders opening space for the Bayside backs to run in easily for the score, 19-10 at 30 minutes. It was becoming clear that the visitors had several dangerous strike runners that the Ravens would have to contain to keep the upper hand. And as the half closed out, they did just that holding up a near Bayside try and from the goal line drop out winger Josiah Morra stole the ball at the tackle and quickly fed scrum half Max Kahler who had a hole and sprinted 70 metres for the try, 26-10 and some breathing room at the half.
The second half involved equal possession and territory but the upshot was a quick tap try by Bayside scrum half Stu Gormley and four tries by bonus point man Raven hooker Louis Kassapian, three dives in and one where his speed and foot skills were on display surging forward to nudge on a Morra grubber which popped up nicely for him as he split the defence and scored under the posts. Bayside spent much of the half on attack, testing the Raven defence close to the line but the likes of Locke, Owen Kokan and Josh Tweed put in key tackles to keep them out and get the win.
For much of the game the Bayside forwards led by loosehead prop Lewis Hodnett had the upper hand in the sets, once winning the ball against the head and sending big #8 Sanaila Dawai off on a rampaging run. Dawai, fullback Baylyn Milner, Mackail and Vunitaraga all posed problems but the Raven’s defence was seldom breached in open field all day.
For the Ravens it was a fifteen-man defensive effort capped off again by a strong forward attack from lineouts, rucks and mauls near the line. A rematch in South Surrey awaits in three weeks. Should be another good one.