If you play for, have played for, or support JBAA (i.e. anyone reading this), you know losing to CW hurts more than losing to anyone else. It’s the way they act that makes them so annoying.
Case in point from yesterday: CWs coaching staff and their ‘finishers’ - you know, the new PC way to describe ‘substitutes’ - decided to camp out in their own end-goal all game long, cheering on their teammates like boosters at a Texas highschool football game on a Friday night.
With that lead in, you can probably guess JBAA lost to CW 24-13 yesterday at MacDonald Park. The bipolar nature of Victoria weather was on display for the afternoon, with rain turning to sun every ten minutes. The Bays took an early lead three minutes in after Tom Burton slotted a penalty from right in front of the posts.
The Bays’ scrum, which has been impressive for most of the season, gave away a penalty on the first set piece of the day, and would go on to struggle all afternoon. The Bays’ defense, for the most part, was impressive on the day, though on offense, the lines run off of the first and second receivers left quite a bit to be imagined - stop stutter-stepping into contact.
An impressive run from Slobo Chabal, and a Blake van Heyningen bosh were the highlights in the first twenty minutes. Then, unfortunately, a CW flanker sliced, diced and scored under the posts, making it 7-3 CW.
Just before halftime, the CW forwards mauled down into the coffin corner (where else?) before one of their tight five dotted down. The JBAA scramble defense was decent but not good enough. 14-3 CW at halftime.
Two minutes into the second half CW scored again making it 21-3 CW. A minute later, environmentalist turned general manager, Shea Wakefield, went down injured, replaced by Jordan Brown.
After an impressive bout of JBAA pressure, the Bays, now within five meters of the CW boosters, were awarded a penalty. With the advantage in hand, Mitch slotted a rarely seen drop goal. The right decision? We’ll leave that to the Brain Trust, but Mitch will be able to talk about slotting that drop goal for years to come.
Off the ensuing kick-off, Old Man de Goede, swatted away a CW flanker. That was nice to see. The Bays, now on the front foot, pinned CW deep in their own 22. Things looked like they were improving for JBAA, but a complete and total lack of box-quick defense at breakdowns allowed those people from Oak Bay to clear their lines far too easily.
With about twenty minutes to go, after another penalty against the Bays’ scrum, CW slotted another penalty making it 24-6 now.
JBAA maintained most of the pressure for the next twenty minutes, but couldn’t make much of it. A lot of juking and stutter-stepping into contact, instead of just running hard off the first or second receiver, was a definite culprit as to why the Bays couldn’t get past the gainline.
With a few minutes remaining, after many JBAA phases and after taking advantage of the slope at MacDonald Park, the Bays finally scored under the posts (scorer unknown, sorry). Tom slotted the conversion making it 24-13.
Minutes later, the Bays were right back into CW territory. First with Slobo Chabal nearly dotting down, and then a Mostyn grubber almost had Brock Webster touchdown for what would have been a highlight reel tally, but it was just out of his grasp. Craig Doublename and Crosby then put on some impressive play with Brock in support, but the people from Oak Bay’s defense remained resilient. The Bays looked impressive for the last fifteen minutes or so, but couldn’t score.
The boosters in the in goal cheered wildly at the final whistle. The Bays now have a date with the UBC Old Boys, and we think CW has a date with the Lomas. If the Bays play like they did for the last ten minutes, run better lines in open play, and sort out their scrum, they can come away with the W against UBCOB.
Photos below courtesy Dave Nicholson. More photos by John Richardson on Facebook (no need to log on to view).
