It was déjà vu all over again – and not in a good way.
The Burnaby Lake Rugby Club’s men’s premier squad fell behind 19-0 before they knew what hit them, as the archrival UBC Thunderbirds rolled to a 29-17 decision in the B.C. club final Saturday in Abbotsford.
It was the second straight year UBC defeated Burnaby in the final for the Rousefell Cup, with the 2016 decision by a similar margin.
For the T-birds, it all turned on a powerful start, where they counted three tries in the first half and launched the second half with two more tries.
Andrew Coe set the tone for the Point Grey group, scoring three tries while Adam McQueen counted three converts.
Before they knew it, the hole was 26-0. It appeared the game was all but over except for the singing, but Burnaby wasn’t willing to wave the white flag.
After a third-quarter penalty put Burnaby on the board, the underdogs gained their footing to make a stand. Displaying impressive resilience, the Lakers pulled the score to 26-12 on Cole McQueen’s try with 13 minutes remaining. While Lucas Albornoz added a late try to cut the deficit to 9 points, the missed convert proved to be their last scoring chance.
UBC added a last-second penalty kick to round out the offence.
The Lake crew entered the final with momentum and a good regular season result – having topped UBC 52-7 two months earlier. But that decision was deceiving, as the T-birds fielded a mostly premier-reserve roster due to a conflict of games. Burnaby posted the only unblemished record during the regular season, going 8-0.
The UBC lineup included Burnaby native Niko Clironomos.
Burnaby advanced to the finals by beating Seattle 20-11 a week ago, following a recipe similar to what UBC did in the final.
Burnaby bounded out to a 17-3 first half lead, but had to defend against a determined rally from the opposing side.
Jeke Gotegote scored the Lakers’ lone try while Mike Godall connected on four three-pointers.
