Thanks to Barry for this weeks game reports:
On Saturday, under cloudy skies, several hundred players and fans converged on MacDonald Park for a day of rugby excitement.. There was a feeling of buoyancy in the air due partially to the recent emancipation from mask-mandates and partially to the anticipation of the revival of the decades-long CW/JBAA rivalry.
The curtain-raiser for the day featured the visiting Langley Ladies clashing with the home-town JBAA women’s squad in 10-a-side action. Both teams had strong forwards and speedy backs resulting in continuous end-to-end action throughout all four of the 15-minute quarters. The local gals dominated early but ultimately were out-gunned by a 53-36 score; 3 lost sets on their own ball were critical turning points in the otherwise evenly-contested match. Bays scorers included 2 tries each from power-running Sarina Brooks and speedy Hailey Clarot, with single tallies added by Saffron Brooks and Raelee Mulholland. Kylie Good booted 3 conversions as well as being a defensive stalwart throughout the game.
The Premiere Reserve men’s game was all CW in the early going as they coasted to a 45-7 win over our short-staffed second 15. Peter Masimo was a defensive warrior until he got his bell rung. A gutsy performance by the kids in a losing effort…enough said.
The much anticipated Premier Men's game pitted the highly-ranked CW visitors against the youthful and rapidly-improving JBAA squad and the anticipation was justified as both teams provided spirited and committed efforts throughout the match. The home team shocked CW with two early tries by speedy winger Gio Douyon and with one convert by Thomas Burton were able to jump into a 12-0 lead, much to the chagrin of the visitors' vocal spectators. A couple of mental errors on the Bays’ part, including an ill-advised offload near their own goal-line allowed an easy interception by a CW back who scored between the posts. When the ’automatic' convert clanged off the post, JBAA retained a 12-5 lead midway through the first half. An exciting forward maul allowed the Bays’ hooker Austin Creighton to gleefully cross the goal line for the third Bays’ try and when Burton made the difficult convert, the Navy Blue had a 19-5 lead. A converted between-the-posts CW try just prior to half made it 19-12 for the home team going into the break.
Burton opened the second-session with a well-struck penalty goal to widen the Bays lead to a seemingly-comfortable 22-12 lead. However, that would be the last of the scoring for the Bays as CW went to their long bench to provide a number of impact subs, some of national-team quality, and the tide began to turn. The depth of CW talent was evident; they scored four unanswered tries as the Bays defended valiantly but were unable to stem the flood. The final whistle punctuated a 34-22 win for the visitors in a well-played and entertaining match-up.
Despite the loss, the Bays continued to show marked improvement as the season enters the final stretch.