If previous losses to James Bay in Rounsefell Cup play were not felt keenly before, Saturday’s 23-22 defeat struck to the heart of every Burnaby Lake supporter.
Emotions were difficult to hide on the Burnaby end of the pitch, following a 30-metre penalty kick at goal by James Bay’s Dan Mathie that split the uprights just seconds before the warbling call of the referee’s whistle signaled the end of yet another disappointing outcome against the now 24-time provincial champion.
Last season, Burnaby underperformed in an 18-10 loss to James Bay in the cup final. In 2012, the perennial Island champion nipped the Central Valley club by a couple of points in a similar 23-21 scoreline.
“The name of the game is the team with the fewest errors wins,” said back row No. 8 Admir Cejvanovic, who tied the game 5-5 with his team’s first try, bulling his way over the line in support of a Geoff Ryan break. “We had too many errors and did not capitalize on our chances.”
Those missed opportunities included four makeable penalty attempts at goal by the usually reliable kicking of Ryan, who led the B.C. Rugby league in scoring with 119 points, including 13 penalties.
Burnaby Lake trailed 15-7 at halftime, but could have led by a single point but for the three wide kicks at goal.
Ryan missed a fourth penalty attempt to the left from 40m out to start the second half, but James Reekie had other ideas, finishing off an ensuing Burnaby attack that allowed Ryan to close the deficit to 15-14 with a two-point conversion.
Fullback Cole McQueen then put the Lakers up by four points with a backline try off a five-metre scrum.
With memories of two previous wins over Burnaby Lake in cup play still fresh in their minds, James Bay marched downfield and reclaimed a one-point lead on a Vince Herlaar try.
The Islanders then appeared to apply stalling tactics following a series of malls deep in their end after preventing a Burnaby Lake attack late in the game.
An infraction by James Bay gave Ryan a chance at redemption and the crafty standoff took full advantage, booting arguably his toughest kick of the day from the sidelines through the posts to give Burnaby Lake a 22-20 advantage with just minutes left to play.
But the anticipation that this just might be Burnaby Lake’s day were shattered by Mathie’s game-winning kick at goal and the shrill finality of the referee’s whistle.
“Unfortunately at this level it comes down to error rate,” said Cejvanovic. “We had it, but not that entire focus. Now we have to wait another year for the champions trophy.”
