Burnaby Lake Rugby Club produced a clinical second half performance to defeat the UBC Old Boy Ravens on Saturday afternoon and moved into fourth place in the Canadian Direct Insurance Premier League standings.
A close 10-6 game at the break was blown wide open in the second frame as Burnaby ran in three tries and recorded 25 straight points to put the match out of reach at 35-13. Playing at home and featuring a number of new additions including capped Canadian national team rep Nick Blevins, the Ravens struggled to build any momentum and were smothered by Burnaby’s defence.
Burnaby were on the board just five minutes in when Giuseppe Laudisio went over and James Reekie added the extras to make it 7-0. The visitors then found themselves on the back foot, conceding multiple penalties at the breakdown inside their own 22.
Ravens’ scrum half Gordon McRorie took advantage and closed the lead to 7-6 with a pair of kicks. Burnaby’s Reekie would respond with a penalty of his own to see Burnaby lead 10-6 at the break. The second half saw Burnaby go on their scoring run with strong support play and a trio of tries. “We are really starting to roll and after losing some really close games against teams like James Bay and UVic , we are proving to be a second half team,” said Burnaby no. 8 Admir Cejvanovic. “It’s important to be able to play out the full 80 minutes and we did that today creating scoring chances and finding the spaces.”Cejvanovic recorded two tries with Mike Gough tallying the fourth score to see Burnaby record a bonus point. Reekie tacked on a further two second half penalties and a pair of conversions.
The Ravens’ second half points came courtesy of a late try from McRorie who then converted to round out the 35-13 score line. The decisive win saw Burnaby move to 5-3 and dropped the no.7 Ravens to 2-6-1. “You can tell that our players really treated the three month break like a preseason and our fitness continues to be a major strength for us,” said Burnaby head coach Kris de Scossa, as his team move to 2-0 since the winter break. “Today we came together and I think took the opportunities that were in front of us and converted them into points.”
The only other Premier League match played on Saturday saw the Oak Bay Castaway Wanderers (3-5-1) down the UVic Vikes (4-5) by a score of 48-14. The bonus point win now sees CW in sixth place, just two points back of the Vikes in the standings. UVic’s first division side, the Norsemen were handed a 43-22 defeat by Saanich rivals Velox Valhallians.
The win saw Velox move to 6-0 in divisional play as they lifted the 2013 Times Cup.
The weekend of March 16th will see all eight Premier League teams back in action with three matches slated for Vancouver Island. The Vikes will host Burnaby Lake and Castaway Wanderers are at home to the UBCOB Ravens.
The Meraloma Rugby Club (5-3) will travel to MacDonald Park to face James Bay (7-2) in a matchup between first and third place, while across the Georgia Strait, Bayside Athletic Association (2-7) will be home to Capilano RFC (6-3).
