Burnaby Lake Rugby Club would like nothing better than to etch its name on the 92-year-old Rounsefell Cup.
The men's premier division regular season league champions earned a spot in its second consecutive B.C. Rugby provincial final following a 30-17 victory over Capilano at Burnaby Lake-East on Saturday.
The double blue jumped out to a 15-0 lead by midway through the opening half on tries by Cole McQueen and the first of two five-pointers by Burnaby Central grad Admir Cejvanovic.
League scoring champion Geoff Ryan also converted one of the scores and slotted a pair of three-point penalty goals as Burnaby Lake led the North Shore club 18-12 at the interval.
Burnaby's staunch defence that gave up a league-low 168 points in 14 regular season matches held strong in the second half, allowing the home team time and space to muster two more scores from substitute Matt Alexander and Cejvanovic.
Cap pushed in a late try off a 40-metre kickoff return by Gareth Dyer, but it was Burnaby Lake's day.
The win was Burnaby Lake's 10th in a row since a 9-3 loss to the same Caps back in November of last year.
The two teams also played two weeks earlier with the visiting Blues edging the Caps 25-19 at Klahanie.
With Saturday's win, Burnaby Lake will prepare to meet 23-time provincial champion James Bay Athletic Club in the 93rd Rounsefell final on May 10.
James Bay edged Castaway Wanderers 16-13 in an all-island semifinal on Saturday.
Burnaby Lake has a lot at stake this season.
After amassing a league-best 13-1-0 record, which included a pair of wins over the storied Victoria-based club, Burnaby would like to finally sip from the only major trophy that has so far eluded not only the club, but its former Burnaby Buffaloes and Vancouver Trojans counterparts.
“It’s a sweet thing, but we’ve won nothing yet,” said club president Simon Smolden. “We were the favourite last year but we didn’t perform.”
Last year, Burnaby Lake lost 18-10 to James Bay in the Rounsefell Cup final, while in 2012, the Lakers were edged 23-21 by JBAA in the playoff semifinal.
“We’re still the underdog,” Smolden said, weighing the wealth of experience and national team talent present on the James Bay squad.
“People feel that way, but everything we got, we have earned. It will be a rematch of last year. It will be a hell of dogfight,” Smolden said.
The B.C. final will be held at Klahanie Park on May 10. Kickoff is 2:45 p.m.
Burnaby Lake will be playing James Bay in a Division I semifinal at home this Saturday. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
