The following Senior Mens game report is courtesy of Stroke McGavin:
Cloudy and dull day in Langley – the grass was moist and the air smelled of rich manure.
The Bays arrived early and decided to bombard the poor hungover girls working at the local Booster Juice. They were not impressed but the boys were fueled and ready to go after the arduous journey across the strait. Once back at the field, a general walk through and team chat was had, before the lads got dressed, taped and laced pregame. The whistle blew and we began promptly at 2:30 while being serenaded by the sound of bag pipes played by a super fan dressed in full kilt and sporran.
The Bays were penalized off the kick off. Langley misses touch, and Gio Douyon finds himself with ball in hand and goes for a trot – unfortunately we couldn’t build off the run. After a turnover, the Bays find themselves scrumming down. From all the scrum work done with new scrum and lineout coach Blake van Heyningen, the Bays have a phenomenal scrum. This leads to Mitch Sora getting great front foot ball. He steps and breaks the line. Sends a good ball out to Henry Do. Henry puts on the dance shoes and tears through the defense. Wins the last 2v1 with Gio Douyon at his side, passes to Douyon who dots it in the corner to score at the three minute mark. Issac Gonevou converts to make it 7-0.
The game continues. Isaiah Harrison surprises everyone with some electric footwork and breaks the line. He’s done all the work and then air mails a Hail Mary pass over the heads of his back line and out of bounds.
Dakota Lachance is finding himself quite at home in the front row and proving it by making some outstanding chop tackles in the mid field. To the team’s dismay, another penalty is conceded and the Bays find themselves in a defensive line out at their 5m line. Due to some more outstanding coaching from Blake, the Bays win the line out and escape the danger for now. It should be noted that after this play Blake was more excited by this than when he picks up his Friday night order of Chicken on the Run. It was a sight to see.
As the game moves forward, Keith Graham with ball in hand makes some moves to put the lads on the front foot. It’s looking like a sure try. He passes and the backs, yet to find their hands, knock it on once again.
Langley continues to give up penalties, so Isaac decides to have a shot at a 48m penalty kick. Just like Jake Slobodan's height, the kick is dreadfully short. The Bays find themselves on defense after the attempt and give up yet another penalty. Gio successfully keeps the ball in bounds off the opposition’s kick. Langley recovers the ball but Douyon is quick to tackle the carrier. The referee catches the Langley player cheating, and the Bays are awarded the penalty. Off yet another good line out, the backs get good ball from the forwards. This leads to Henry going on a solid run up field. Huge surprise, another knock on.
Langley is later awarded a penalty on our 22m line right in front of the posts where they attempt a kick. Big miss. Very embarrassing on his part. The Bays can’t get out of their end though. Mistakes lead to a Langley scrum where they take advantage of the momentum. A few “pick and goes” from their big farm boys – they score and convert. It is now 7-7 twenty-five minutes in.
After the restart, there is a messy back and forth in the midfield. Eventually Langley finds a way to put a try in the Bays end. Missed the conversion and the good guys are now down by five. Score is 7-12 at the thirty-four minute mark
More sloppy play from the Bays leads to a Langley penalty. Douyon, keeps the ball in bounds, goes for a 50m run, attempts to keep the play alive with a pass… the pass is knocked on. Half is over. 7-12.
Now receiving the kick to start the second half, Henry Do controls the deep ball, where he sends a beautiful clearance kick to touch. The midfield mess continues and the Bays knock another ball on. Langley then bullies the ball slowly but surely into the end goal leading to another score in the corner. Missed conversion, making the score 7-17 after forty-four minutes. The Bays recover the restart, then awarded a penalty at our 10m line due to foul play. A quick nudge down field and they find themselves at the opposition 22m with a line out. Poor communication leads to another lost scoring opportunity.
The Bays see some life back as Douyon goes for another 50m run. Shows some of that Atlanta magic, and dances his way to the 5m line where he offloads to Keith Graham who dots another one down for the good guys. The Bays fail to convert but the score is now 12-17 at forty-nine minutes.
The referee who was attempting to drown out the screeches of the bag pipes, was constantly blowing his whistle. This led to a Langley scrum and eventual penalty, which turned into a try. With another converted try, the score is now 12-24, fifty-two minutes done. Still feeling as though he had not blown his whistle enough, the ref flip flops on a penalty call which leads to a Langley line out on our 22m. Like farm boys pushing a tractor in the mud, Langley mauls over the line for another converted try. 12-31 at fifty-seven minutes.
Apparently dominating a scrum so much so that you push the opposition front row fully upright is not a penalty according to this referee. He says play on even though the Bays scrum should have been rewarded for their effort. Langley picks off the back of the scrum, make an easy pass and score once again. The score is now 12-38 at sixty-three minutes played.
Some quick back and forth play and Gio Douyon catches another kick. Mitch Sora acts quickly after the tackle and grabs the ball at the base of the ruck. He slings it to Ryan Boothroyd, who finds Keith Graham to score. 17-38 at sixty-nine minutes.
A big turnover in our end, leads to Keith Graham stretching his legs – this time for a 60m jog where he puts another try over the line. Mitch Sora converts making the score 24-38 after seventy-three minutes of play. We hold possession for the final seven minutes of the game before the whistle blows to end the match. The lads switched on a little too late. Final score, 24-38 for Langley.
The showers looked like a scene from the Gulag, so quite a few members of the team opted out of the shower. It was a somber and smelly bus ride to the ferry. As would happen on a day like this, the ferry was delayed by an hour. Onto next week against the Rowers.