Notwithstanding two losses to the opportunistic Ravens, our senior mens’ teams should be proud of their efforts yesterday at MacDonald Park.
Despite the gloom and doom spectre created by media ‘atmospheric river’ hysteria, the day was sunny and bright with swirling wind from the south, pretty typical for MacDonald, as JBAA hosted the highly-touted UBCOB Ravens. Like the hair on Warren Zevon’s werewolf, the fields were ‘perfect’.
Premier Reserves
With several Reserve players moving up to Prems level as injury replacements, a number of younger players were given an opportunity to get some action and performed admirably.
The visitors struck first, immediately after kick-off with a number of pick-and-goes, to jump into an early 5-0 lead. Nervous handling errors by the young Bays stymied scoring forays until Nathan Tough made a slick break into the end zone to allow Otto to convert and give the Bays a 7-5 lead. Moments later Henry Do intercepts an ill-timed Raven pass to scoot 50 metres to extend the home team lead to 14-5. A try by the visitors at the whistle left the scoreboard 14-10 to end the half.
Although coming uphill for the second half, the Bays press early but are rebuffed by stubborn UBCOB defense; the Ravens wisely use the wind and slope to kick their way downfield and jump into a 17-14 lead, 8 minutes in. A flurry of quick hands allows Kai Khan to regain the lead for the Navy Blue and the convert makes it 21-17. After a yellow card to James Bay, the Ravens begin to press but the JBAA defence is impressively mulish with big Peter Masimo making multiple jarring tackles as the half winds down. With 6 minutes remaining a penalty and subsequent successful maul gives the Ravens a 22-21 lead. Our guys press valiantly for the last five minutes but the final whistle left them one point shy.
This was disappointing for the home team but lots of positives against a strong opponent.
Prems
The much-anticipated Premiere game featured the highly-touted and import-laden Ravens against an exciting and cohesive Bays unit; the pre-game excitement was palpable.
Going up the slope, the home team jumped into a 6-0 lead off the boot of centre Thomas Burton, one of the Bays Men of the Match on the day. The visitors responded with a smooth backline movement finished by their inside centre. Burton extended the JBAA lead to 9-5 with his third precision penalty success. An errant Bay pass allows a speeder Raven to pounce on the loose ball and scamper in for their second score. An ill-timed grubber from our goal line lets in another try for the visitors. A fourth Raven try at the half leaves UBCOB comfortably leading 26-9 at the half. Errors against a good team like the Ravens are quickly exploited and although the play had been relatively even, the score reflected those mistakes.
Undaunted, the home team showed an admirable level of commitment and team cohesion during the second half. Using the wind and slope well, two converted forward tries bring the Bays to within 3 as the score tightens to 26-23 with the momentum seeming to shift as the home-town crowd moved toward the edge of their seats. With 7 remains minutes, a pressing JBAA offence makes a simple handling error that the ever-dangerous mainlanders ultimately turn into a score after a fortunate bounce from an up-and-under. Another well-deserved try by the quick-striking visitors completes the scoring at 38-23, a score line not reflective of the relative equity of possession.
Having said that, the team that won was full value as they have many talented players. To JBAA’s credit, they were a supportive and cohesive unit, auguring well for the remainder of the season in this rather well-balance league.
Next week the mens teams head to Burnaby.
Our webmaster has caught up with posting Game Reports so have a look back to see reports from the October 1st and 15th and 29th game days.