The sun shining, the smell of grass and the echoing sounds of fans hollering “huddy huddy” set the tone for a perfect Saturday afternoon of rugby.
The Bays and the Rowers clash once again during their 114 year history, playing each other since 1908. This Saturday was emphasized due to the fact that we had not seen the Rowing Club since we last played rugby, pre Covid era, and what a day for it.
Solid win by the Division One side, and a valiant, but fruitless battle for the Prems.
Lots of work to be done during the bye week ahead.
Huddy Huddy you Bays.
Division One:
The Bays trot across the upper pitch in their white kit, to make it down to the lower field for a 12:30 kick off. The peanut gallery notices a familiar face on the Rowers. It is none other than the legend himself, Coleman Braid. Jake Slobodian from the side line, sharp as ever, comments “You look better in blue Coleman!” to which Coleman responds while shaking his head in disappointment “You guys are wearing white…”
With the pleasantries exchanged and the referee’s POV GoPro head cam mounted and firmly secured to his forehead, the game was set to begin.
The whistle blows to signal the start of the match and the Bays with a good kick to put the Rowers under pressure early. After a few phases of play, and some good defense, the scrumhalf from the Rowers can be seen puking just minutes into the game. It was not clear if this was due to too many beers the night before or perhaps some kind of flu from the far east. Regardless, he is quickly taken off the field and replaced.
The Bays now with ball in hand, we see some class form from Ben Johnson, one of three legendary Bays on the game sheet for the day, making his presence known with a big powerful, run. This leads to a few more good phases by the Bays, where the Rowers are forced to cheat and give up a penalty. With this, Mitch Sora takes a quick tap and sprints forward, making good contact and sending the opposing tackler to the ground. This leads to another penalty and the Bays seem to have some good momentum building early on.
The play is sloppy going forward, leading to a plethora of infringements going both ways. Eventually some decent play comes of this, fewer whistles are needed and some flow is established once again.
The import presence is strong with the Rowers, and if you couldn’t tell from the accents on the pitch, you could tell by how much they love to kick the ball away for no reason whatsoever. This works out in favour of the Bays and they storm back up field. Kerry Park, the second of the legendary three, finds himself on the edge with space. Chef then surprises everyone with a burst of speed and a 20m run up the wing. Needing to remind us that he is in fact a prop, he then cuts back in field to find four defenders before they are able to drag him to the ground in a group tackle.
Mitch Sora’s boot on the day was in prime form, finding us good position up field off penalty kicks. These scenarios are providing Nate Waldman, long time player, but new hooker for JBAA, more and more opportunities to show off his natural athleticism while throwing absolute darts in the line out. No surprise to anyone that he was up for the task with only two practices in the new position.
This good lineout ball allows us to retain good ball, and sling it to Mitch Sora in the backs. He sees space and grubbers the ball through to Henry Do, who dots the ball down at the 13 minute mark. Craig Hermann attempts his first shot at goal for the Bays, just misses. The score is 5-0 for the good guys.
After the restart, Ryan Boothroyd starts to throw his weight around (all 150lbs of it) and absolutely demolishes his defender. Lots of power in the young kid. In the ensuing phases, the Rowers give up a penalty giving Mitch Sora another opportunity to find touch. He hammers one long and deep, only to smoke a fan in the face with the ball. The fan is fine and the field position is great. Good shot.
The Rowers continue to cheat, which continues to give JBAA opportunities to work the line out. This time, Nate Tough gets good ball off the four man set up and barrels up field on a hard crash line, plowing through defenders making it 15m beyond the gain line before anyone pulls him down.
Using our Lock’s height, the forwards are able to steal a defensive lineout which ends up in the hands of the backs. They sling the ball out wide to Henry Do who goes for a 70m jog, rather than making the easy 2v1 early which was a sure score, he decides to do things the hard way and get tackled. Mitch Sora receives the ball off the ruck and sends a long, cut out pass to Nate “Cheeseburger” Waldman who scores the try. Craig Hermann makes no mistake on the conversion this time and the score is 12-0 at 23 minutes.
The Rowers can’t seem to hit the restart well, sending it straight out of bounds. They should know you’re not allowed to do that. This is fine though because it gives the Bays a beautiful center field scrum. Off this, JBAA gets the ball out to the backs who are just simply too good on the day, and the only way to stop them is by cheating. The Bays are awarded yet another penalty. The Bays elect for another scrum, which leads to Ryan Boothroyd going for a run to break the line, gaining some good meters. Mitch Sora doing the dirty work and clearing out the breakdown. Unfortunately, Isaiah’s mullet slows him down and he is too late to the breakdown. The Bays have turned it over and it is time for Isaiah to get a haircut.
Nearing the end of the half, the Bays find themselves deep in own end, on the defensive side of a scrum. Blake Van Heynigen, excited to see his coaching come to fruition, sees his disciples turn the scrum over and win the ball. The look he gave them was the look a proud father gives his son as he takes his first steps… Or the look he gives the container of chicken he devours every Friday night from “Chicken on the Run.” With the scrum and ball now secured, Craig Hermann uses the boot to get JBAA out of danger and clears a kick to touch.
The Rowers lineout finally figures it out and they gather the ball and maul forward down field. In an act of desperation, the Bays manage to hold up the maul at the try line to escape danger, and end the half. After 40 minutes, the score is 12-0 for the Bays.
The Bays find themselves with an early lineout opportunity and our Lock is able to shine during his 2022 debut winning another lineout for the good guys. Another young gun for JBAA, Keaton Williams is able to turn good forward play into a try on the win for his first try of the year. A close attempt by Hermann but a miss. The score is 17-0 at 44 minutes.
After the score, Coleman Braid, being asked to do it all for the Rowers attempts a restart and shanks it out of bounds. The club still loves you Coleman but thank you for missing the kick.
Forwards are looking too good after all the set piece coaching from Blake. They were simply overpowering the opposition and it led to good ball for the lads. This transitioned to some decent phase play from the Bays but not able to convert before another whistle ends the sequence.
Ryan Boothroyd continues to impress when given good ball and good opportunity. He makes some marvelous steps to break the line and gain another 15m beyond the gain line. Just like his older brother Evan, he will be a solid and consistent player for JBAA. More action from the young guns, Keaton Williams showing off his power and finesse making a good steal at the bottom of the breakdown to win the Bays the ball and an opportunity to attack. Brilliant stuff.
With the young backs buzzing, it is no surprise they are feeling confident off of set piece play where they have acers to play ball in. Mitch Sora with the call, Boothroyd running the dummy line, Sora sends the ball back to Williams who runs over the defender. Sora finds himself with the ball quickly after that on the wing. He elects to try the high risk, high reward play and throws up the chip and chase. He catches his own kick and dots it down for five more points. Hermann finishes the play off with a beautiful drop goal because the tee didn’t get to him in time. No matter though, he slots it. The score is 24-0 at 65 minutes.
Mitch now feeling even more confident with the ball on the foot, lofts one up for another young Bay, Rylan Knudsen. The kick is good but the wheels need a little more gas and Rylan just barely misses the catch. Not to worry though, the Bays are looking strong and confident during the final minutes of the game. Just having fun out there and it shows.
With this confidence in full force, the lads string several passes together to get the ball into the hands of Craig Hermann on the edge who dances down the line to put another try on the board. Naturally he misses the conversion on his own try. Can’t do everything all at once. With that the score is 29-0 at 71 minutes played.
Brad Underwood makes a surprise appearance and pulls on the white kit, showing the very young Divies side what it means to be a Bay.
In the remaining minutes, Coleman has another unfortunate kick for the Rowers. You hate to see it. It would make sense that if he was in the correct colour kit he would have made the kick with ease. A few minutes after this dreadful kick, play is blown dead and the game is over. The Bays finish the game with a 29 nothing shut out.
Huddy Huddy you Bays! Class showing from the Division One side. Well done lads.
Premier Division:
With the energy level and moral at a high due to the electric win by the Divies, the Prems make their exit from the change room in the royal blue kit.
With the excited energy level, it is no surprise that the boys were a bit too amped up and discipline was an issue. With that, the Rowers kick the ball to touch and have a line out on the Bays 10m line. The ball comes out and the Bays make some solid tackles which leads to the Rowers being penalized at the ruck. JBAA ball. Tom Burton kicks the ball deep into touch off the penalty and JBAA has a line out at the opposition 10m line. The four man line out Blake devised is working with phenomenal success. This leads to Alex Jordan to hit the gain line with a massive amount of force, crashing through defenders. Quick ball movement at the ruck by Corsby Stewart which gives the backs good front foot ball. Tom gets the ball and uses his massive 110lbs frame to throw a defender on their ass. More great phase play from JBAA. Isaac Gonevou elects to send a cheeky little grubber through the Rowers’ centers. The ball takes an unlucky bounce and kicks left, the dribbles out of bounds. Good offensive pressure from the Bays
After a line out and a few phases for the Rowers, the Bays knock the ball on and find themselves with a defensive scrum. The push back forces the Rowers to elect to kick the ball away. Burton receives the kick as well as he handles the deliveries for The Local. He steps and makes a good run. He sees a 2v1 and sends a good pass to Mike Waldock. Mike, who has been away on a ski trip, seems to have left his hands on the slopes and drops an easy catch to end the play.
The forwards feeling confident at scrum time push the Rowers back once again and they scramble to get the ball out the back. Rowers quickly tackled and still scrambling, caught off their feet for the Bays to be awarded the penalty. Tom kicks deep to find good position for the boys to run another lineout. Alex Jordan with another monstrous crash ball off the set piece. The backs get the ball and are seemingly forced towards the touch line, but the Rowers touch the ball a second before the ball goes into touch and JBAA retains the ball for another line out. Austin Creighton slinging darts to the jumpers all day, sends another good one up. This leads to good ball for the backs to play with and the Bays string several phases together. Rowers caught cheating once again, this time because they saw a sure try about to happen, so they purposely knock a pass down to kill the play and sacrifice a penalty. Even though the intentional knock down should have been a penalty, the referee elects to scrum down. The Bays push forward to give Crosby good ball. JBAA strings good phase play together. Our outside flanker, on loan from the Canada 7s program, shows some fantastic ball handling skills. The forwards pick and go for meters off several rucks in a row. The Rowers high tackle one of the JBAA players which gives the Bays another penalty. Burton with another good kick to touch. The Bays can’t capitalize on this opportunity.
Austin continues to have success with his throws off the line out. The good throws forces Rowers to leave the line early and are caught offside resulting in a penalty. Tom, feeling confident opts to attempt a shot at goal. Near miss. Rowers put up the 22m drop out and Bain receives the kick. He steps and puts on the burners, bashing into a defender for big positive meters but the Bays lose the ball at the ruck. Rowers quickly kick the ball back deep into Bays territory where Keith Graham catches the ball and goes for a jog only to be high tackled. No call from the referee results in the ruck being turned over once again. Rowers then quickly move the ball, break the defensive line and score at the 16-minute mark to make the score 0-7.
Just as with the Division One game, there is a heavy presence of imports on the Rowers side and they are infatuated with kicking the ball away. JBAA decide to play along. Several kicks back and forth eventually lead to a penalty being awarded to the Rowers in their own end. Thankfully their hooker is awful at throwing the ball and can’t seem to throw it straight. The Bays elect to scrum down. The Rowers win the defensive scrum and push over top of the ball. After a few phases the Bays are penalized and the Rowers, feeling confident now, choose to scrum down. They pick and go off the scrum but new Bay and young gun, Wyatt Pilz makes the stick from his position at flank. The Rowers have the Bays on the back foot though and capitalize. Rowers score again, this time under the sticks to make the score 0-14.
It is becoming more and more evident as the game continues that our new, young recruits need to find and frequent the buffets here in Victoria. Looking malnourished and with the figures similar to Victoria’s Secret models, they could use an extra meal or twelve. Lots of work ahead for the team strength and conditioning coach with these fellas.
Between some of our players being too slender, and others feeling a little beat up, there is several minutes of less than adequate play by JBAA which leads to numerous penalties being awarded to the Rowers. Eventually the onslaught of penalties leads to a momentum shift to the Rowers who break the line and score again at 28 minutes. The score is 0-21 for the Rowers.
Being down a few scores doesn’t stop Alex Jordan – a butcher by trade and a butcher of men on the field – from slaughtering his opponents at the gain line every time he gets the opportunity to run a crash ball. With his latest run, it gives Crosby another chance to send good ball out to the backs. This leads to our outside flanker to go for a huge run. As he attempts to execute a pass, the Rowers purposely knock the pass down for a penalty at the opposition 22m line. The Bays opt to scrum down. Blake’s coaching paying dividends once again and the Bays get a scrum penalty. A tap and go by Alex Jordan gives the backs good ball to work with. Gonevou’s quick pace and good dummies lead to the Rowers giving up a penalty for foul play. Bays tap and go once again, which is followed by a few pick and goes off the rucks. Rowers are penalized once again for cheating and the Bays tap and go. Unfortunately, this time it leads to a knock on, and the play is dead.
Some back and forth of equally unskilled play leads to the Bays having another scrum. Good push from the thicker lads on the team and Crosby sends the ball to Waldock. Waldock, excited to have ball in hand, puts absolutely everything into a one-meter pass, which inevitably bounces off the chest of the Bays center which then kills the play and the Rowers get a scrum due to the knock on. With that, the half is over with a score of 0-21 for the Rowers. The message from head coach, Sean White, is “trust ourselves – do our jobs”
The second half begins.
Rowers send the restart deep into the Bays’ end. Gio Douyon returns the kick for a good run. Crosby picks and goes off the ruck and runs down field. Under pressure, he nudges a grubber through the line. Burton recovers and looks to make the pass to Dakota Lachance. As is the trend of this write up, Lachance knocks the ball on.
Rowers scrum down. Pilz, who looks scarily similar to Russ the Bus, makes another big stick off the defensive scrum. This forces the Rowers to kick the ball away. Douyon returns the kick once again. Rowers are quick at the break down and force a turnover, to then kick the ball deep. Bays return and a messy breakdown ensues. Rowers knock the ball on as they attempt the turnover at the ruck and JBAA gets awarded a scrum.
No matter how many good scrums the heavy set fellows are able to perform, the backs just simply can not find their hands on the day and continue to knock the ball on. Somehow, JBAA manages to win the ball back, where the Bays once again knock the ball on. Thankfully the Rowers were penalized right beforehand and Tom is able to put a good boot on the ball and kick to touch.
As JBAA begins to string some solid phases together, Alex “The Butcher” Jordan continues to murder defenders at the point of contact as he carries the ball through the enemy line once again. Austin Creighton follows suit and makes his own big break through the line. Burton then uses the momentum to also go for some positive meters. Ben Johnson, who didn’t play enough minutes in the Divies game, shows the young fellas how its done and bodies a few defenders as well. Great show of strength and grit by young and old alike.
All this pressure leads to foul play by the Rowers and Tom kicks the ball perfectly to give the Bays a lineout on the opposition 5m line. Good throw up to the jumper, leads to Crosby sending good ball out to the backs. Gonevou steps, carries, steps again and then breaks the line to score under the posts at the 52-minute mark. Tom slots the easy convert to make the score 7-21.
After the restart the Rowers put immense pressure on the Bays which leads to an unfortunate knock on. Rowers scrum down. A big push and the ball pops out. The Rowers then break through JBAA defense. They string a few solid phases together and score in the corner making it 7-26 after 58-minutes.
Tom Burton puts up a class restart and the Rowers knock the ball on. JBAA with the scrum but it seems the referee doesn’t quite have a full grasp of the rules and misses an obvious scrummage penalty. Instead of awarding a penalty, he resets the scrum. None the less, the Bays push forward with great force. Crosby moves the ball to the backs who run a solid play through the centers. Gonevou sets up Bain to break the line. Forwards then pick and go for several phases short of the goal line to finally inch over the plane to score. The convert is missed but after 61-minutes the score is now 12-26.
Rowers kick the ball high and deep for the restart where Wyatt Pilz finds himself under the ball. He catches but runs high into contact and gets stripped of the ball. Rowers then quickly kick back and Douyon returns this time. Creighton receives the pass off the base of the ruck and carries hard through contact. The Bays string good phases together even though the ref continually misses high and dangerous tackles by the Rowing Club. As the trend of the day continues for the Prems, they knock the ball on and the play is dead.
A few plays later the Rowers have a line out, their hooker still hasn’t figured out how to throw the ball straight and JBAA is given the lineout instead. Crosby sends “The Butcher” for another menacing crash ball at the gain line. This does not turn into points but there are good things building for the Bays. The Rowers knock the ball on in an attempted turnover at the ruck, and JBAA gets a scrum. The Bays win their scrum, only to run two phases before another knock on. Thankfully this time, the Rowers are forced out of bounds after they gain possession and the Bays get a line out.
Another Alex Jordan crash ball off the line out, but this time he is able to draw a penalty. Our outside flanker takes the kick to touch with a big boot down the field for good line out position. This line out gives Alex Jordan another opportunity to cut up the defense taking two defenders with him this time. JBAA loses the ruck. Rowers carry but knock on. The referee misses this and makes up a call. He said JBAA knocked it on. Rowers’ scrum. It’s too bad the ref for the Prems game doesn’t also wear a head cam or he would be able to review the terrible calls he made during the 80 minute match.
Off the scrum, the Rowers complete a questionable 50/22 down field to get a lineout down field. Rowers then push forward with some good phases close to the goal line, but JBAA holds them up in goal for a goal line drop out. Rowers catch the kick but knock on the next pass. They win their defensive scrum which leads to them scoring in the corner in the 79th minute. The score is 12-31 with one final play left.
JBAA puts up the restart and Rowers knock on the catch. The whistle is blown and the game is over. Final score 12-31 for the Vancouver Rowing Club.
Game report provided by Stroke McGavin.