Premier Reserves - Ferguson Cup
Despite the usual doom and gloom about something now known as ‘an atmospheric river', our Premiere Reserves took to the Brockton Oval field on a cloudy but dry day and re-claimed the Ferguson Cup by spanking the Vancouver Rowing Club by a score of 25-7.
As usual when on the road, numbers can be tight, thus forcing coach Brett Beukeboom to don the #6 jersey and join his team on the field, instead of observing from the sideline.
The game started with lots of back and forth for the first 10 minutes with the referee doing his best with no official touch judges ( what’s new?). A cheeky clearing kick by Beukeboom (yikes) gives Boothroyd the opportunity to chase and win the ball: he dishes to Max Otto who flips to Henry Do for the first score of the game at the 15 minute mark. Bays are assessed a number of scrum penalties allowing the Rowers to score their first and only tally of the game to go up 10-7 halfway through the first session. A plethora of Navy Blue pick-and-goes gets the visitors close enough to the goal line to allow Kai Khan to score next to the posts; Otto chips the convert to allow the Bays to go up12-7. He adds a penalty to give the visitors a 15-7 lead at the half.
The second half deteriorates somewhat as the Rowers see the Fergie Cup preparing to sail back to the Island. Another successful penalty by Otto and a crashing try by Peter Reyes allows Otto to convert and end the match with a 25-7. A solid victory.
Prems - Cox cup
Rowers scored first in this exciting match, converting a hands-in-the-ruck penalty into 3 points, early. The Rowers present with old-school refrigerator-sized props to control the scrums while the visitors look to their backs for success. After multiple penalties back and forth, Bays survive 2 yellow cards and then score in the corner, thanks to Magic Mosten, with Tom Burton converting at the 24 minute mark. 7-3 Bays. Just prior to half, Magic breaks the line and dishes to Craig DoubleName who streaks 40 metres for the second Navy Blue tally. The half time whistle leaves the score at 14-3.
The second half begins with lots of macho back and forth action until the home squad mauls a penalty to score and tighten the game at 14-8. With Rowers under pressure and committing too many penalties, Tom Burton gets the opportunity to successfully extend JBAA’s lead to 17-8. Shortly thereafter, the canny Rowers force a turnover and turn that into a score, now 17-13..
With time winding down, Thomas Burton has to leave to catch a flight back to work; no fear…here comes Ryan Boothroyd to the rescue. Boothy immediately smokes a prop as easily as wrecking a folding table and subsequently steals the ball. Shortly after, Craig Doublename fills in for Thomas and bangs a penalty to extend the visitor lead to 20-13 at the 66 minute mark. A high kick by Mitch Sora allows Craig to tap the ball back to the Magic Man who runs 40 meters..now it is 25-13.
The spunky Rowers attempt’s a come back with a last minute score but it is too little and the whistle to end he game sees the scoreboard reading 25-18 in favour of the James Bay Athletic Association.
Another great day for our guys; long time Bay Bobby O could hardly contain his joy, despite having a Rower for a son.