Submitted by Bad Boy
Our women’s team outscored UBC 59-34 in a run-and-gun effort played in Vancouver yesterday. Bus driver Tom Woods reports that our team ‘scored lots of great tallies'. Katrina Sweeney led the JBAA onslaught with 3 tries, Kylie Good and Caelyn Huebner added a pair each while single score contributions came from Daryana Mielecka, Raelee Mulholland, Aislen MacKay and Sarina Brooks. Saffron Brooks and Allie Phillips each converted to round out the scoring for the convincing victory.
Our Premier Reserve squad kept their playoff hopes alive with an exciting win over the visiting Capilano squad from the North Shore of Vancouver. The visitors trailed JBAA from our first try till the end of the game with the Bays’ win never in doubt. Our first try resulted from a bollocking run by Mostyn Findlay, followed by an Isaac Gonevou kick which was scooped up by the sprinting Malik James allowing him to race in to score unopposed. A 5 metre belly flop by Chef bumped the score to 10-0 by the 10 minute mark. The Caps had the edge in forward play for much of the game and used a rolling maul to tighten the score at 10-5, five minutes later. A zig zagging run by Craig Doublename, along with his convert took the score to 17- 5 by the half.
The JBAA backs continued to run rampant during the second half with long runs by multiple players resulting in tries from Isaac, his brother Joeli Gonevou, veteran Nanyak Dala and Mark Yuen. A couple more Craig Mitchell-Hermann converts gave theBays a 43-19 lead with but 15 minutes left and time for some substitutions. The Caps gamely fought back with 2 late tries but their losing fate had already been sealed. Final score 43-24 for JBAA. Our boys need a win next week over UVic to proceed to the playoffs.
The Premier game was a very interesting and exciting match. The beginning of the encounter looked to be a horror show for JBAA fans as Capilano scored one minute into the game and then went on to run up a 28-0 lead using the wind and slope well, aided by some sketchy defence from the home team.
A nifty backline movement from Mostyn Findlay to Anton N’Gongo with an off load to Keegan Neary allowed the speedy winger to get the Bays on the board, finally, with 9 minutes to go in the half. Mike Nieuwenhuysen then orchestrated two quick JBAA tries, springing Keegan to score twice more, allowing the Bays to come back to trailing by a more respectable 17-28 deficit at the half.
With the wind and the slope favouring the crowd favourites, the JBAA flag flapped briskly in the breeze as the second half began. A successful penalty by Thomas Burton, followed quickly by a penalty try awarded after foul play by the visitors and the Bays crept to within one…27-28…and the game was on!
Eight minutes later sustained forwards pressure by JBAA allow Jack Macintosh to storm over for a try and the first lead of the game for the home team at 32-28. A counter-attack off a miss kick allowed the visitors to regain the lead at 32-35 with a converted tally. The never-say-die Bays responded with 10 minutes to go when Craig-Mitchell-Hermann, playing in his second match of the day, tallied for JBAA; the Burton convert gave the home team a 39-35 lead as the score see-sawed in JBAA’s direction. Alas, an apparent try by Anton disallowed, some squandered chances by the Navy Blue and a couple of late Caps tries saw our brave warriors on the losing end of a 39-49 scoreline.
All in all a disappointing score, but a very exciting spectacle.
Last regular home games next week against UVIC.
Game Report - 23 March '24 - Hosted Triple Header and the Yanos Cup!
1 win, 2 losses on home turf
Submitted by Bad Boy
Despite the unseemly rainfall, all three rugby games were able to be completed at MacDonald Park this weekend.
The first game saw our women’s team steamroll the visiting Cowichan group [retaining the Yanos Cup] in a game that was played with just 10-aside as the up-island squad continues to struggle with numbers. The home team struck early and often, using the restricted numbers to their advantage while dominating the game by a score of 54-5. Sarina Brooks and Clara Meyer led the Lady Bays with two tries apiece while solo tallies were contributed by Eliza Woods, Daryana Mielecka, Caelyn Huebner, Dani Ewen, Avery Laing and Katrina Sweeney. Eliza’s try was particularly entertaining as she attempted a TV-type dive into the end zone while landing ignominiously on her knees. The women ’s final regular season game is in two weeks against UBC.
Speaking of ‘steamrolling', the JBAA men's Premier Reserve fifteen were mauled 56-7 by the fast-attack UBC team. JBAA continues to fight for a playoff spot but will need a win against Capilano in two weeks to make that happen. Despite the lopsided score, the Bays had a considerable share of possession but were unable to convert their opportunities despite multiple forays into UBC red zone; meanwhile, the speedy visitors pounced on every and all JBAA errors to fatten their lead at a steady pace throughout the match. The only Navy Blue score came at the end of the first half when Toby Ng hit a hole before dishing to Jeremiah Gonevou who bashed over the line. Craig Mitchell-Hermann and Joeli Gonevou also had notable performances on the day.
The Premiere game saw the Thunderbirds shock the home team by scoring off the kick-off at the one minute mark. Another opportunistic try gave them a 14-0 lead before a Thomas Burton penalty got the Bays on the scoreboard. As in the previous game, poor execution of line-outs maimed the JBAA boys attack and allowed a further try by UBC at 25 minutes and despite the next 5 minutes with the home team pressing, the halftime whistle blew on a 21-3 score at the half. Tom Richardson and Jake Thiel were warriors for our boys during this half.
Unfortunately, the beginning of the second half mimicked the first half when UBC scored 8 minutes in, to establish a 28-3 advantage. But a scant 4 minutes later, Jake made a break, passed to Mostyn Findlay who freed up the relentless Richardson to dive into Coffin Corner…28-8. The T-Birds were able to take advantage of rubbish line-outs by the Bays to score twice, taking a commanding lead of 38-8. Much of the second half left the JBAA Faithful longing for clearing kicks to take advantage of the wind and slope; exploiting that edge was apparently not in the players' plan. With time winding down, the proud JBAA squad pressed relentlessly and were rewarded in the dying moment with a Mostyn score to close the game out at 38-13. Along with Mostyn and Tom Richardson, Crosby Stewart played well despite the loss.
The men will host Capilano two Saturdays from now.photo by Jen Ross
