Castaway Wanderers won their third straight Canadian Direct Insurance premier league match 44-5 over Vancouver Rowing Club at Windsor Park. The win launched the Oak Bay-based club from seventh to fifth place in the league standings, leaving them just one point shy of a playoff position with five rounds to go in the regular season.
Canadian international Ciaran Hearn led all scorers with four tries and a pair of conversions. Tries were also recorded by national team prop Jake Ilnicki, as well as No. 8 Gord Kehoe, winger Keenan Horton and outside centre Jordan Henderson.
"Our forward pack is pretty formidable right now. There are at least four to five national team guys available for selection and the other guys in our pack aren't exactly slouches," said Castaways head coach Ian Hyde-Lay in a B.C. Rugby press release. "Our player resources are so much better than they were before Christmas when we were struggling a little bit.”
Castaway Wanderers will put their win streak on the line when they face League-leading Burnaby Lake this Saturday at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex-East. The clash will be a rematch of last year's semifinal, which saw Burnaby down CW 26-10.
Burnaby held on for their fifth straight win on Saturday, defeating a relentless University of Victoria side by a score of 27-26. The Vikes rallied back from 27-5 down and secured two crucial bonus points on the road.
Across town, third-place Capilano RFC were made to work in a 22-0 win over the winless Meraloma. The match was a defensive stalemate until just before the half when a missed penalty attempt from the touch line was recovered by Capilano, allowing the North Shore club to eventual score a try from Evan Marshall.
"The Lomas were very good defensively and made us work for everything," said Capilano head coach Tom Larisch. "We were very fortunate to convert a missed penalty and turn it into a try."
The fourth match of the weekend saw reigning Rounsefell Cup champions James Bay bounce back from last weekend's defeat to Castaways by downing UBC Old Boys Ravens by a score of 33-19.
