Our senior women defeated Oak Bay for the Gudmunseth Trophy with a 10-0 victory at Windsor Park against CW, with Maggie Swan and Sophia Erece scoring the tries and Eliza Woods anchoring the defence with demonic tackling.
At Westshore, with a carnival-like atmosphere as a backdrop to the games, our Premier Reserves overcame some shoot-yourself-in-the-foot syndrome to ultimately overpower the host team by a 40-35 spread.
The Bays jumped into an early lead with a pick-and-go forwards try, followed shortly thereafter by a blasting run up the middle by Man-of-the-Match Mike Nieuwenhuysen to allow the Bays to jump into a12-0 lead. At 30 minutes a Bay’s kick fails to find touch and allows a jumbo-sized Westie forward to score between the posts and bring the score to 12-7. Shortly thereafter a Westshore back, seemingly offside, blocks a visitor’s kick and this quickly leads to another score and the lead to change hands. At this stage JBAA’s Peter Masimo, along with Nieuwenhuysen are making the prepoderence of the visitors’ tackle as Westies have their tails up…a long run by their winger extends the Westies lead to 21-12 although Max Otto is able to hit a penalty at half to bring the Bays within 6.
The Bays seem to be forcing passes in ill-advised situations during the first part of the second session and this ultimately leads to a turnover and a Valhallian try and the score extended to 28-15 for the home team. At this stage, Puzzler de Goede becomes a defensive madman tackling everything in sight and his enthusiasm results in a Westie penalty; Newie shrewdly quick taps and barges over for another try to make it 28-22 with the Otto conversion. He adds a penalty moments later and the score tightens to 28-25. With time winding down another monster break by Newie and a long spin pass to Kai Khan allows the little scooter to touch down the visitors’ fourth tally of the match.
With James Bay now leading 32-28, another flubbed kick gives the Westshore a lineout opportunity which leads to yet another gifted try and the lead once again.
With time winding down, impact sub Teagan White scores off another Newie break to give the visitor’s the final try of the game. An Otto penalty seals the deal in this see-saw battle, giving our Reserves a win and the championship for the island competition…phew!
Our Prems have a rather ignominious start to their game when a newly-minted Westshore winger from the Canada sevens program blasts down the field five minutes into the game giving Westshore an early 7-0 lead. The Bays respond with a devastating forward maul allowing Luke Campbell to score the first JBAA try and with Tom Burton’s convert the score is knotted at 7’s. Westshore add 3 with a penalty kick before a nifty backline movement from Mosten to Craig to Isaac gives JBAA a second converted tally. A Burton penalty allows the visitor’s to take a 17-10 lead into the half-time huddle.
James Bay’s superior fitness and solid forward dominance begin to take its toll on Westshore; Mitch Sora intercepts and runs 60 meters to score; Crosby Stewart kicks ahead a loose ball and scores. Suddenly it is 31-10 Bays. As frustration sets in for the home squad the game gets scrappy and Captain Blake, along with his sparring partner, are yellow-carded for fisticuffs. Such fun! The game settles down and the Westies get their second try, bringing the score to 31-17. A tricky penalty play allows Big Luke to score another tally. Not to be outdone, Phil Mack flicks a back pass to Burton to put the final nail in the Westshore coffin.
The 41-24 victory gave the James Bay Athletic Association an undefeated record in the local competition for the Barnard Cup, adding to JBAA’s dominance for this award.
A good day, indeed.
