1 December Junior Island Finals

JBAA will host two playoff games on the 1st: U14 girls at 11am and the U16 boys at 12:15pm. Two other teams will travel to Comox: U18 and U16 girls. All three girls teams will play for gold and our U16 boys play for bronze. Provincial finals will follow the next week (8 Dec) at Starlight Stadium! This weekend, we would love to get a big crowd out from all ages to tunnel and cheer on the home games while sending club-wide winning vibes up island too! 

It was a great day on the pitch on Nov 24th for the Island semi-finals. A brief breakdown by location is below:

Comox: 

U14 girls came out with a 31-19 Win.  They will now face CW at home on the 1st at 11am for gold!U18 boys sent a small but vicious squad up to mix with the Rapids.  They played a 7s game and both clubs ended on a high note and a positive for the end of the season.

Cowichan:

U16 girls won 46-15. They will now face the Rapids in Comox for gold on the 1st at 1130. U16 boys lost a tight battle (19-12). They will now face the Rapids at home on the 1st at 1215 for bronze. U18 girls came out with a 32-24 win.  They will face the a rapids in a Cowichan for gold on the 1st at 1:30pm.

Westshore:

U14 boys played a series of 7s games and had an awesome time - a fantastic way to end the season on a very positive note!

Some photos below, more will be added to social media:

Game Report - 19 October: Bay Day in the Mud Bowl!

Submitted by Bad Boy.

Saturday was the first Bay Day we have had at MacDonald Park in two years as both our Prems and Reserves recorded well-deserved wins over Westshore.  The Reserve game started in showery conditions but before the final whistle for the Prems game sounded, the proverbial ‘cats and dogs’ rainfall had turned into an all-out deluge. As expected, supporters from both clubs were few and far between, with most huddled under canopies;  in return for this discomfort they were treated to exciting games from start to finish and their enthusiasm for the action was loudly expressed…emotions between these teams is always fulsome.

In the earlier game, sloppy conditions prevented either team from scoring as both refused shots at goal, preferring to go for line-outs on penalties, an unsuccessful strategy for both. Finally, at the 25 minute mark, Craig Mitchell-Hermann changed plans and slotted a penalty from in close to give the home team a 3-0 lead. Following the restart a chip kick from Isaac Gonevou lead to a scrum won by JBAA and the ensuing Isaac-to brother-Joeli pass allowed Kai Khan to burst between tacklers and score between the posts. With the convert it appeared that the Bays would take a 10-0 lead into the break, but a well-developed back line movement saw Westshore  score a converted try just before the half ended. 10-7 at the break.

Big Peter Masimo came in for JBAA at the half and immediately made his presence felt, gleefully bowling over opponents like a playground bully….a pleasure to behold!  Buoyed by his presence, the Bays pressed the defence until a Velox infraction allowed Double Name to notch his second penalty. With the home team up 13-7 Westshore’s jumbo-sized #5 broke through the middle to score between the sticks and with the convert give Westshore their first lead…14-13. With the rain now pouring and time winding down, the band of spectators is treated to a line break by Double Name, a pass to Ethan Woods and a barging tally by Toby Ng.  Double converts to nail a 20-14 win…the first pillar of a Bay Day now complete.

By the time the second game started on the same lower field, it had become a mud bowl with uncertain footing and awkward handling. An unpromising start for the home fans saw Westshore score a try just two minutes into the game and with a penalty they moved into an 8-0 lead with only 10 minutes gone. An impressive kick and chase by Wyatt Pilz then allowed Callum Botchar to pounce on the loose ball to give JBAA their first 5 points. Before the half closes a huge scrum by JBAA resulted in speedy D’Shawn Bowen getting his hands on the ball and churning his way in for a tally to let the home team go to the break leading 10-8.

Early in the second half Crosby Stewart was binned for a ‘deliberate knock-on’…tough call in the wind and rain. The outmanned Bays’ defence remained resolute until the last moments of the sin bin when another try gave the visitors a 13-10 advantage. A successful penalty kick gave  the Langford squad a 16-10 advantage with 17 minutes to go. From here on, the home squad, their white jerseys now a muddy brown, controlled the game with a ferocity and determination not seen for some time. The inevitable go-ahead try came once again from Callum Botchar after a sustained forward attack lasting a full six minutes.  Burton ices the convert to make it 17-16 and his penalty moments later coffin-nails the 20-16 victory.

The carnival-like celebration in the clubhouse featured obnoxious music, shirts off and general jubilance prior to Rookie Night at the club.

Life is good.

Juniors Week 2: Tearing up the pitch from Nanaimo, to Shawnigan, to CW

Juniors week two saw the U18 girls in Nanaimo, dominating the pitch against the Hornets with a >50 point victory - the talent in this team is simply incredible, what a team to watch as the season continues. This week was a bye week for the U14 and U16 girls, with their next matches coming on the 20th v the Rapids.

Further south, the U14-U18 boys faced the Salish Sea Warriors in Shawnigan. First, the U14s hit the lower pitch. Although outnumbered, they fought hard with strong defence and some great breaks on offence. These kids are coming together well and will get an opportunity for an additional exhibition game this coming Saturday at Windsor Park, joining forces with Abbotsford to face the host club, CW.

The U16s took their second win of the season, letting up only one try and surprising Salish and taking them by a >50 point spread. The U16s will join the fun at CW this weekend, facing Abbotsford at 1pm. Immediately following the U16s game in Shawnigan, the U18s hit the lower pitch. While still short players due to injury, and greatly outnumbered, with the U14s and U16s on the sidelines cheering them on, they fought to the bitter end, with Connor Steeves ensuring they slapped some points on the scoreboard. As players return to the lineup, we are excited to watch this team in the weeks to come. Each of these teams are very much looking forward to integrating with and learning from the Senior players at this Thursday’s joint training.

Finally, on the pitch at CW, our minis had their first jamboree. There were smiles for miles accross all pitches. While flags were flying from left to right, many of our U12s experienced tackle rugby for their first time. All finished the day with a great experience to speak of, and ready for the upcoming weekend rest, with next minis training occurring on the 20th.

Junior 15s Season off to a Roaring Start!

September finished off strong, with the Div 2 Women taking out the Nanaimo Hornets 39-29 and the Men’s Reserves narrowly missing the win on the 28th, followed by a solid day of rugby for the minis and juniors at the Mac and CW on Sunday the 29th.

At the Mac, we closed off a stellar minis training session by gathering kids at mid field, many of them wearing orange, where Tom H led a moment of reflection for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Following the ceremony, it was back to the pitch, with the U14 boys, followed by the U16 boys and U18 boys each taking on Westshore in successive games. Our boys had strong performances in all matches, despite being short in some areas following the previous week’s efforts in Kamloops. Many thanks to all supporters who came out and also took part in the morning’s Bacon and Eggers fundraiser and the afternoons BBQ! We can look forward to more such hosting ahead in future weekends.

Concurrent to Sunday’s matches at the Mac, our U14-U18 girls took on CW at Windsor Park. As you can see on our social media through Matt Martin’s incredible photos, our girls fought hard and left CW in the dust in all matches.

As the club continues to grow, it is awesome to watch the amount of youth we have on the pitch every weekend in all age grades. Looking ahead to this coming weekend, let’s see how many of these 200+kids and their families we can get out to watch our senior teams play on Saturday at the Mac!

In the meantime, rest up, Bears, and see you on the pitch in the days to come!

Huddy Huddy!

Game Report - 6 April '24 - Women @UBC, Men @home vs Capilano

Submitted by Bad Boy

Our women’s team outscored UBC 59-34 in a run-and-gun effort played in Vancouver yesterday. Bus driver Tom Woods reports that our team ‘scored lots of great tallies'. Katrina Sweeney led the JBAA onslaught with 3 tries, Kylie Good and Caelyn Huebner added a pair each while single score contributions came from Daryana Mielecka, Raelee Mulholland, Aislen MacKay and Sarina Brooks. Saffron Brooks and Allie Phillips each converted to round out the scoring for the convincing victory.

Our Premier Reserve squad kept their playoff hopes alive with an exciting win over the visiting Capilano squad from the North Shore of Vancouver. The visitors trailed JBAA from our first try till the end of the game with the Bays’ win never in doubt. Our first try resulted from a bollocking run by Mostyn Findlay, followed by an Isaac Gonevou kick which was scooped up by the sprinting Malik James allowing him to race in to score unopposed. A 5 metre belly flop by Chef bumped the score to 10-0 by the 10 minute mark. The Caps had the edge in forward play for much of the game and used a rolling maul to tighten the score at 10-5, five minutes later. A zig zagging run by Craig Doublename, along with his convert took the score to 17- 5 by the half.

The JBAA backs continued to run rampant during the second half with long runs by multiple players resulting in tries from Isaac, his brother Joeli Gonevou, veteran Nanyak Dala and Mark Yuen. A couple more Craig Mitchell-Hermann converts gave theBays a 43-19 lead with but 15 minutes left and time for some substitutions. The Caps gamely fought back with 2 late tries but their losing fate had already been sealed. Final score 43-24 for JBAA. Our boys need a win next week over UVic to proceed to the playoffs.

The Premier game was a very interesting and exciting match. The beginning of the encounter looked to be a horror show for JBAA fans as Capilano scored one minute into the game and then went on to run up a 28-0 lead using the wind and slope well, aided by some sketchy defence from the home team.
A nifty backline movement from Mostyn Findlay to Anton N’Gongo with an off load to Keegan Neary allowed the speedy winger to get the Bays on the board, finally, with 9 minutes to go in the half. Mike Nieuwenhuysen then orchestrated two quick JBAA tries, springing Keegan to score twice more, allowing the Bays to come back to trailing by a more respectable 17-28 deficit at the half.

With the wind and the slope favouring the crowd favourites, the JBAA flag flapped briskly in the breeze as the second half began. A successful penalty by Thomas Burton, followed quickly by a penalty try awarded after foul play by the visitors and the Bays crept to within one…27-28…and the game was on!
Eight minutes later sustained forwards pressure by JBAA allow Jack Macintosh to storm over for a try and the first lead of the game for the home team at 32-28. A counter-attack off a miss kick allowed the visitors to regain the lead at 32-35 with a converted tally. The never-say-die Bays responded with 10 minutes to go when Craig-Mitchell-Hermann, playing in his second match of the day, tallied for JBAA; the Burton convert gave the home team a 39-35 lead as the score see-sawed in JBAA’s direction. Alas, an apparent try by Anton disallowed, some squandered chances by the Navy Blue and a couple of late Caps tries saw our brave warriors on the losing end of a 39-49 scoreline.
All in all a disappointing score, but a very exciting spectacle.

Last regular home games next week against UVIC.

Game Report - 23 March '24 - Hosted Triple Header and the Yanos Cup!

1 win, 2 losses on home turf

Submitted by Bad Boy

Despite the unseemly rainfall, all three rugby games were able to be completed at MacDonald Park this weekend.

The first game saw our women’s team steamroll the visiting Cowichan group [retaining the Yanos Cup] in a game that was played with just 10-aside as the up-island squad continues to struggle with numbers. The home team struck early and often, using the restricted numbers to their advantage while dominating the game by a score of 54-5. Sarina Brooks and Clara Meyer led the Lady Bays with two tries apiece while solo tallies were contributed by Eliza Woods, Daryana Mielecka, Caelyn Huebner, Dani Ewen, Avery Laing and Katrina Sweeney. Eliza’s try was particularly entertaining as she attempted a TV-type dive into the end zone while landing ignominiously on her knees. The women ’s final regular season game is in two weeks against UBC.

Speaking of ‘steamrolling', the JBAA men's Premier Reserve fifteen were mauled 56-7 by the fast-attack UBC team. JBAA continues to fight for a playoff spot but will need a win against Capilano in two weeks to make that happen. Despite the lopsided score, the Bays had a considerable share of possession but were unable to convert their opportunities despite multiple forays into UBC red zone; meanwhile, the speedy visitors pounced on every and all JBAA errors to fatten their lead at a steady pace throughout the match. The only Navy Blue score came at the end of the first half when Toby Ng hit a hole before dishing to Jeremiah Gonevou who bashed over the line. Craig Mitchell-Hermann and Joeli Gonevou also had notable performances on the day.

The Premiere game saw the Thunderbirds shock the home team by scoring off the kick-off at the one minute mark. Another opportunistic try gave them a 14-0 lead before a Thomas Burton penalty got the Bays on the scoreboard. As in the previous game, poor execution of line-outs maimed the JBAA boys attack and allowed a further try by UBC at 25 minutes and despite the next 5 minutes with the home team pressing, the halftime whistle blew on a 21-3 score at the half. Tom Richardson and Jake Thiel were warriors for our boys during this half.

Unfortunately, the beginning of the second half mimicked the first half when UBC scored 8 minutes in, to establish a 28-3 advantage. But a scant 4 minutes later, Jake made a break, passed to Mostyn Findlay who freed up the relentless Richardson to dive into Coffin Corner…28-8. The T-Birds were able to take advantage of rubbish line-outs by the Bays to score twice, taking a commanding lead of 38-8. Much of the second half left the JBAA Faithful longing for clearing kicks to take advantage of the wind and slope; exploiting that edge was apparently not in the players' plan. With time winding down, the proud JBAA squad pressed relentlessly and were rewarded in the dying moment with a Mostyn score to close the game out at 38-13. Along with Mostyn and Tom Richardson, Crosby Stewart played well despite the loss.

The men will host Capilano two Saturdays from now.

photo by Jen Ross