Burnaby Lake were denied an eighth Gordon Harris trophy following a 36-12 loss to the Velox Valkyries in the premier women’s rugby final at Klahanie Park on Saturday.
The two-time defending women’s champs surrendered five first-half tries to the unbeaten regular season winners, including four unanswered five-pointers late in the frame, to end the period trailing 29-5.
But despite the double-digit deficit, the Laker women were far from finished. National team veteran and scrum half Julia Sugawara took the Blue and White inside the Velox 20 on three separate occasions, coming away with a converted penalty try early in the second half and unlucky to not get more before having to leave the game with an injury.
But it was the Valkyries’ ability to run the ball out of trouble that time and again, gave the Vancouver Island visitors the breathing room they needed to keep Burnaby off balance.
“There was a very narrow brand of rugby we had to play to win it,” said Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame coach Walt Brandl. “They have big forwards and they’re a real good team, it’s a tough combination to deal with. At the end of the first half we let it get away from us.”
Velox controlled play from the opening whistle playing expansive rugby and finding gaps to exploit in the Burnaby Lake backline that the Lakers were never fully able to close.
Despite that fact, Ciara Malone scored early for Burnaby Lake closing the deficit to 7-5 before Courtney Sims scored a try following a turnover at midfield against the run of play, sparking the Velox turnaround.
Still, Brandl, liked what he saw from his side in the second half.
“You don’t replace (a player like Sugawara). But we have a lot of young players and they looked comfortable out there,” Brandl said.
The premier women’s title was the third in eight seasons for Velox and first since 2012.
