For those of you who were unable to make it to the game this weekend, here is a brief summary of the event: Both teams were loaded with players who would have a hard time buying liquor legally as the UVic squad appeared to be basically their Jutes and the Bays fielded an equally young team interspersed with U19 players. Despite their youth, both teams came to play and put on a feisty and entertaining 80 minutes of rugby for the appreciative crowd.
Under clear skies with a crisp autumn chill in the air, the Bays kicked off and immediately began to pressure the visitors. It looked rather bleak for UVic when the first maul of the game saw JBAA bully their way over for a tally by Austin Creighton, which was unconverted. UVic came roaring back but repeated sorties into the home team territory was thwarted by aggressive first-up tackles, many of which were made by Peter Masimo. At the 10 minute mark with UVIC up quick on defence, Mitch Sora popped a kick in behind the charging defence which was gathered in by Keith Graham who sprinted 45 metres to make it 10-donut. After being hemmed in for the next 15 minutes, a clearing kick by the university squad was knocked on; the ensuing scrum led to a rather soft try for UVIC when their inside centre rambled half the length of the field to score. This was the first real defensive lapse by the Bays. Another flubbed convert brought the score to 10-5. At this stage it was hard not to notice that JBAA had squandered multiple scoring passes as a result of errant passing and backs standing flat on attack. However with just minutes left in the half the boys in blue managed to get the ball to Keith Graham with a little space which allowed him to ramble from the 50 to the end zone, bringing the score to 15-5 prior to the half time whistle.
The second half was marginally less intense than the first, but entertaining nonetheless. UVic began enthusiastically but were unable to make any significant inroads into Bayville. At this stage, the JBAA forwards began to show some significant moxie and led by veteran Shea Wakefield controlled the play. The Bays’ Tain Clague was making numerous tackles and impressive runs during this session and after multiple phases big Austin barged over for his second try of the game, making the score 20-5 after another convert was unsuccessful.
At this stage, passes to invisible recipients began to plague the Bays and a nifty run by a UVIC winger allowed UVic to score their second try. The kicking Flub-at-hon continued and the score remained 20-10. Spirited back and forth from both teams moved the clock to 30 minutes into the second half. The last 10 minutes saw multiple substitutions on both sides and Scrappy Town ensued until a crafty Jute dribbled the ball into the end zone for the 7th try of the game. And wow!…a convert was added to bring the score to 20-17. Moments later the final whistle blew, heralding a victory for the James Bay Athletic Association..