Thunderbirds repeat as Rounsefell Champs

The UBC Thunderbirds repeated as CDI Premier League champions on Saturday, lifting the Rounsefell Cup once again by defeating Burnaby Lake 27-12 at Klahanie Park in West Vancouver. Brock Staller, fresh off the Americas Rugby Championship with Canada, led the way for the T-Birds with 14 points and a key role on their first try.

A penalty goal opened the scoring for UBC and then Staller made a break down the left flank, offloading to Jorden Sandover-Best in close support. The scrumhalf couldn’t quite make the line but James Thompson was on hand to pick from the ruck and dive over for the try.

Burnaby Lake, who looked to have an advantage up front, used their big men up front to find a score with Neil Courtney in the bin for a dangerous tackle. After a few phases on the line it was prop Ryan Ackerman who forced his way over to get his team back in the game. Staller replied with a penalty to make it 13-5 at the break.

Two more goals extended the lead to 14 points and then Theo Sauder put the game out of reach. The hot-stepping flyhalf found a gap in the Burnaby line and fired a perfect pass to Nathan Rees, who glided over the line untouched to strike a hammer blow.

The Burnaby forwards got one more for pride before the end, earning a pushover try for no8 Tutaisi Vikilani, but it was for naught. Staller’s final penalty wrapped up the score, the title, and an undefeated season for the Thunderbirds.

“It’s unbelievable,” said UBC fullback Andrew Coe. “The amount of work the boys have put in to get to this is amazing. We knew that Burnaby were a big, strong team and that we’d have to make a lot of tackles. We’ve been preparing for that, that’s what we did, and we came out with the win.”

In other action on the day Castaway Wanderers defeated Westshore to claim the Women’s Premier title, and Capilano topped James Bay 24-17 to lift the Library Square Cup.

UBC THUNDERBIRDS 27
Tries – J. Thompson, N. Rees
Cons – B. Staller
Pens – B. Staller 4
Yellow cards – N. Courtney

BURNABY LAKE 12
Tries – R. Ackerman, T. Vikilani
Cons – J. Reekie

UBC THUNDERBIRDS
1 Neil Courtney 2 Cali Martinez 3 Chris Taylor 4 Connor Weyell 5 Sam Clark 6 Nakai Penny 7 Charlie Thorpe (capt.) 8 Connor Hamilton 9 Jorden Sandover-Best 10 Theo Sauder 11 Brock Staller 12 James Thompson 13 Ben LeSage 14 Manar Kulkhan 15 Andrew Coe

16 Foster DeWitt 17 Mike O’Toole 18 Riley Savard 19 Nick Allen 20 Cole Keffer 21 Adam McQueen 22 Nathan Rees

BURNABY LAKE
1 Anthony Luca (capt.) 2 Andrew Lackner 3 Ryan Ackerman 4 Ryan McHollister 5 Craig McLaughlin 6 Steve Batie 7 Doug Breadon 8 Taitusi Vikilani 9 Cody Rockson 10 James Reekie 11 Angus Fisher 12 Jeke Gotegote 13 Joe Dolesau 14 Brian Murphy 15 Gareth Marsden

16 Micha Govorchin 17 Adrian Longbone 18 Paul McFeely 19 Mike Gough 20 Rain de Guzman 21 Geoff Ryan 22 Adam Timler

Referee: Chris Assmus

With files from Brendan Munro and BC Rugby