Premier Reserves game
Despite a loss by our boys in the Premier Reserve match, the game was certainly entertaining. The game was moved from Meralomaville because the City of Vancouver refused to issue any permits for rugby games on the west side of Vancouver this weekend…who knows why.
Anyway, our games were moved to Bayside. It was interesting to note that the referee for the Reserve game went the entire 80 minutes without ever running…seems like he maybe lost a double-dog dare with a buddy during a St. Paddies’ day bet.
The Lomas team looked much like their premiere team from a few years back and that fact might explain their effective teamwork in the early going as they jumped into a 17-0 lead by the 30 minute mark of the first half. A well-constructed tally by the visitor’s allowed JS Cook to give the Bays their first number on the scoreboard...17-5 with 8 minutes to go in the first session. A flurry of activity saw the Lomas scored twice before Justin White bowladromed a hapless defender to make it 31-10 at the half.
The Lomas struck early in the second half, extending their lead to 36-10 before JS Cook responded with his second score of the game to make it 36-15. After the home team extended their lead to 43-15 the Bays, led by big Peter Gangsta Masimo, began to get super physical, with crunching tackles that even jarred the bones of the spectators, including the one standing at the halfway line posing as a referee. Two more tries by the visitors from Otto and Mark Yuen closed the game out at 43-29 with the deserved victory going to the Merry Fellows from Vancouver.
Premier game
Well. The Meralomas were in first place in the BC Premiere League until recently and it is clear by their performance today that they deserve to be considered one of the top teams in the BCRU. They looked well-drilled and cohesive throughout the match while our Bays were inconsistent on both offence and defence on the day.
There are no excuses for the defeat suffered by our guys as we were outscored 56-24 by the ‘Lomas by the end of the game.
The home team jumped into a 14-0 lead before Kai Lloyd broke a tackle after a set scrum to score between the sticks and with the Thomas Burton convert the scoreboard went to 14-7. Still a decent outlook but too many penalties allowed the mainland squad to go up 21-7. Kai continued to make multiple line breaks but they did not translate into points. On defence, Teaghan White was a relentless monster but a mystery yellow card to Andrew Montgrand lead to a fourth Loma try before Crosby Stewart intercepted a pass and burned 50 meters to claw the Navy Blue back to a 28-12 margin at the half.
The second half started miserably for JBAA when Peter Masimo was binned for being way too aggressive. Our boys start to look rather disorganized on defence, allowing the Merry Fellows to go to 42-12 before Mitch off-loaded to Mike Nieuwenhuysen who flipped the ball to Mosten Findlay for the third Bay score, making it 49-12. The disjointed Bays defence is now a major cause for concern as Lomas score twice more to extend the misery to 56-19. The final try went o the Bays when Crosby connected with Kai who humiliated 5 would-be tacklers to close the scoring out at 56-24.
This was a disappointing day for our mens’ teams that will undoubtedly initiate some soul-searching as we move ahead.
The Bays will host the always-tough Capilanos next week. Let’s help them get back on track with lots of support!