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The UBC Old Boys made it two BC Premier League titles in a row as they defeated Burnaby Lake 30-22 in the Rounsefell Cup Final on Saturday. It’s the first time the Ravens have been repeat winners since the 1990 and 1991 seasons, and their seventh title all told since being formed in 1974.
Aaron McLelland opened the scoring for the Ravens with barely a minute on the clock. The New Zealand native sold a dummy on halfway and ran straight through under the posts to leave the simplest of conversions for Kol Henriksen.
Burnaby responded through their forward pack. After a sustained period of pressure they earned a 5-meter scrum. Advantage was given on the collapse but they didn’t need it, with Taitusi Vikilani feeding Reid Watkins on the short side. The scrum was stopped short but captain Mike O’Toole was on hand to squeeze over in the corner.
UBCOB would do the rest of the scoring in the half. Their high-octane attack put Burnaby on the back foot, and McLelland’s wide pass found its mark as Jeff Vyres dove over for the score. Henriksen couldn’t land the extras from the sideline but added a penalty to make it 15-5 at the intermission.
A second penalty from Henriksen opened the second half for the defending champions. Another McLelland intervention created a try for the kicker, taking out two defenders and somehow getting the offload away for Henriksen to tear in nearly under the sticks. He somehow shanked the conversion but the Ravens were now well ahead.
Vyres got his second just on the hour mark to all but end the match as a contest. It was McLelland again who proved the inspiration, scything through the backline and feeding Vyres on his inside to do the honors. The big left boot of second row Brian Moylett sent the ball through the uprights to make it 30-5 for the Ravens.
To their credit the home side did not give up. Three times they got close and three times they finished, all via hard-running right winger Darren McCrory. Neil MacLaine landed one conversion but the other two pushed across the uprights from a bad angle.
The Ravens had defeated the UBC Thunderbirds in the Semi Final to earn their spot in the Final. Many are graduates of the program with three former T-Birds celebrating their 5th consecutive Premier League title. Chris Taylor, Conor Hamilton, and Jorden Sandover-Best won three with UBC before taking their talents to a burgeoning Old Boys dynasty.
SCORING
BURNABY 22
Tries – M. O’Toole (10’), D. McCrory 3 (63’, 71’, 78’)
Cons – N. MacLaine 1/4 (64’)
UBCOB 30
Tries – A. McLelland (1’), J. Vyres 2 (16’, 59’), K. Henriksen (53’)
Cons – K. Henriksen 1/3 (2’), B. Moylett 1/1 (60’)
Pens – K. Henriksen 2/2 (22’, 46’)
Yellow cards – C. Taylor (73’)
TEAMS
BURNABY LAKE
1 Nik Hildebrand, 2 Preston Petrovitch, 3 Bryce Worden, 4 Callum Toi, 5 Craig McLaughlin, 6 Tom Dear, 7 Mike O’Toole (capt.), 8 Taitusi Vikilani, 9 Reid Watkins, 10 Haydn Munck, 11 Gino Paolella, 12 Neil MacLaine, 13 Sean McKeown, 14 Darren McCrory, 15 Cole McQueen
Replacements: 16 Andrew Lackner, 17 Adrian Longbone, 18 Anthony Luca, 19 Tom Cvijanovic, 20 Siaki Vikilani, 21 Andrew Porter, 22 Geoff Ryan, 23 Cian Keegan
UBCOB RAVENS
1 Dimitri Gotsopoulos, 2 Nathan Kendrick, 3 Chris Taylor, 4 Brian Moylett, 5 Cam McWilliam, 6 Pat Richardson, 7 David O’Donaghue (capt.), 8 Conor Hamilton, 9 Jorden Sandover-Best, 10 Robbie Jones, 11 Graham Turner, 12 Kol Henriksen, 13 Colby Mason, 14 Jeff Vyres, 15 Aaron McLelland
Replacements: 16 Curtis Delmonico, 17 Matías Suez, 18 Grant Crowell, 19 Andrew Hamilton, 20 Sean Hase, 21 Kelepi Cucake, 22 Jake Wolfman, 23 Sean Ferguson
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: David Smortchevsky (RC)
Assistants: Chris Assmus (RC) & Harry Mason (RC)
