Burnaby Lake Elites run Away
With Lighthouse 7’s Titles
Burnaby
Lake Rugby Club Elite Teams pulled off a Double on Saturday afternoon by
winning both the Elite Men and Elite Women Titles in the 2nd Annual
BLRC Lighthouse 7’s tournament. The club
also won the U14 Division and were finalists in the U17 and Social
Division. A very successful day indeed
for a club whose 7’s program is only three years old.
The
day was picture perfect for sevens Rugby.
Both players and fans enjoyed a day out in the sun and the Rugby was
phenomenal! In the end, Burnaby Lake
Elite Men won the last game of the day defeating Kolofo’ou 42 – 14. They went through to the Final by defeating
Abbotsford 35 – 7 in the semi final.
Abbotsoford proved to be a tough team to put away during the tournament,
a testament to the popular belief that they should have been playing in the
Elite Division throughout. They were
very very good. They will definitely be
a team to watch next summer. Kolofo’ou
came through their side of the draw by beating South Seas Connection in the
other semi final in a tough match that went to sudden death! The final score was 26 – 21 in their favour .
The
Elite Women decided to go straight to the Finals after the round robin pool
play, with Meralomas facing Burnaby Lake - a repeat of the finals played at
the Abbotsford Tournament. Burnaby Lake
were determined to win their own tournament, especially after being eliminated
in the semi final last year. They proved
to be a little more structured and with a little more desire to win and came
out on top 36 – 7 in the end.
The
win gave the Burnaby Lake Elite Men the BC Rugby 7’s series Title. The Elite Women achieved that feat after the
Abby tourney. This gives both Divisions
the Championship Series two years in a row, something they will cherish until
next summer.
The
Socials were almost there. They had to
bow to Velox though. This was a repeat
of the SFU Finals where they snatched victory away from Velox, but they could
not match the determination shown by the island team and went down 12 – 21 at
the final whistle.
The
Juniors Division was won by BC U16, Shane Thompson’s squad heading to the
Western Canada Games. You can tell they were being coached by
Canada’s best at this level. They showed
poise and confidence to go along with their skill and seven’s know-how
and they
will definitely do well in their upcoming games. Burnaby Lake Juniors
gave them a good run for
their money, but in the end the final score was 19 -14 to the BC Team.
The
U14 Division was won by Burnaby Lake over Delta.
A Huge
thank you goes out to the referees who braved the hot sunny day running the
games, a very big thank you as well to all the clubs that came and supported
our tournament. AND to the fans who came
to cheer – without you this would have been a boring affair…..Thank you!
Final
Scores:
Elite
Men -
Semi Finals BLRC 35 - Abby 7 South Seas 21 - Kolofou - 26 in sudden death overtime
Final
BLRC 42 - Kolofou 14
Elite Women Final
BLRC 36 - Meralomas 7
Social Men
BLRC 12 - Velox 21
Submitted by Roko Kapaiwai
