The women remained the flagship of the Burnaby Lake Rugby Club earning a sixth provincial title at the B.C. Rugby championships in Victoria on Saturday.
The Laker women took the game to their Vancouver Island hosts in the opening half and held on to defeat the defending Gordon Harris Memorial Cup champion Velox Valkyries 17-13 in the women's premier final.
It was the fourth final for Burnaby Lake against Velox and third in a row.
"Two years ago, we stole one on the last play. Last year, we lost by six and this year, it was really a one-point game," said women's team coach Walt Brandl.
Abby Goodwin scored a first-half try for the winners and Julia Sugawara booted three penalties to give the visitors a 14-3 lead at the interval.
But in a game that became a battle of halves, Velox rallied in the latter period, scoring tries from captain Brittany Sims and fullback Selina McGinnis.
With Burnaby Lake on the defensive, the five-time women's champions played a man down after
Maria Gallo was shown the sidelines with a yellow card.
But despite being a player down, Burnaby Lake proved resilient, managing a rally of its own, which led to a fourth three-point penalty by Sugawara at full time.
The difference was experience, said Brandl.
"We've got more players who have been there," he said. "Even when (Maria) Gallo got carded, no one was wringing their hands.
"The technical stuff you teach, but that stuff you don't teach. They're mentally tough - the leadership group is rock solid."
"We targeted beating them to the ball. It's our style of play," added Sugawara in a B.C. Rugby press release.
The Burnaby Lake men's team was less fortunate, losing the men's premiership final 18-10 to James Bay.
The Victoria powerhouse put together an effective game plan, using its veteran forward pack to keep the ball out of the hands of Burnaby Lake's dangerous backfield.
In the end, James Bay wrestled its 23rd-ever Rounsefeld Cup away from the Lower Mainland challenger.
"At the end of the day, James Bay was beat up, but they paid the price," said Brandl.
Burnaby's Joe Dolesau scored first, finishing off a Ryan McHollister attack. But the James Bay forwards began to find their rhythm and tied it up 5-5 just before half time.
In the second half, the Victoria side built up an 18-5 lead before Dolesau touched down with a second late five-pointer.
In the division 1 final, Burnaby Lake had a 12game win streak stopped, missing a chance for a second men's title following a 35-25 loss to the University of Victoria in the Ceili's Cup, also played Saturday.
The Burnaby team led 15-10 at the half and appeared to have the game in control, but two late tries on long runs to the outside by Luke McCluskey and Kapi Vataiki gave the provincial title to the home side.
Burnaby Lake was led by captain and second-row forward Alec Douglas, who scored two tries. Anare Tuidraki also scored a try for Burnaby. Flyhalf Nolan Shelley kicked 10 points for for the Lakers.
