The veteran forward pack of the James Bay Athletic Association commanded the game on the way to an 18-10 victory over Burnaby Lake in the Canadian Direct Insurance Premier League Rounsefell Cup Final.
JBAA rarely gave up the ball and took their time grinding the game down. Just minutes before half time, JBAA drove a maul over the line with Peter Gillespie touching the ball down to tie it 5-5 at the half.
An early penalty goal in the second half by JBAA's Sean White was followed shortly by a JBAA try finished by winger Mitch Bancroft. That made it 13-10 JBAA.
JBAA's Jim de Goede scored the next try off an impressive series of rucks by the JBAA forwards for an 18-5 lead.
Burnaby responded with a second try by talented back Joe Dolesau but JBAA defended the lead for the Rounsefell Cup.
"They outplayed us,” said Burnaby Lake captain Mike Gough.
“We knew our forward pack would need to match their’s, at least,” said victorious James Bay captain Spencer Dalziel.
Velox slip in Harris Cup final
Burnaby Lake rode a dominant first half to edged the Velox Valkyries 17-13 for the Gordon Harris Memorial Cup, emblematic of the 2013 B.C. Rugby Adidas Women's Premiership championship.
Burnaby roared out to the lead in the first half on three penalty goals by Julia Sugawara and a try by Abby Goodwin, with Velox's Monique Boag knotting one penalty conversion, 14-3.
The second half saw a reverse in momentum with Velox were winning the rucks they weren't winning in the first half. It led to two tries, one from captain Brittany Sims and the other fullback Selina McGinnis, 14-13.
But Burnaby managed to find just enough in the late going to hold on, with Sugawara converting a penalty goal.
High school rivals connect for Vikes
The UVic Norsemen defeated Burnaby Lake Rugby 35-15 in the second of the day's trilogy of championships, the men's First Division Ceili’s Cup final.
Late tries by Luke McCluskey and Kapi Vataiki sealed for UVic, which stayed true to the Div. 1 theme and trotted out first-year rookies. Granted, some of those rookies are very much on the radar of the national team program.
The scored finished 15-10 at half for Burnaby with UVic kept in it thanks to the fine kicking of local product Fergus Hall, a Glenlyon Norfolk School grad.
Centre Dustin Dobravsky and winger Keenan Horton also scored tries for UVic, while Hall kicked 15 points.
The UVic win was a true club effort, said flanker Jeff Nishima-Miller, a recent grad of St. Michaels University School in Saanich and former rival of Hall's in school play.
“We had so many injuries all year,” he said. “We had to call guys up from the thirds all the time. We learned to play with heart.”
- With files from Andrew Smith/BCRU