ABBOTSFORD — Phil Berna’s second try of the match, coming in injury time, carried the day for the St. George’s Saints, lifting the Vancouver school to a 15-12 win over the Shawnigan Lake Stags and its first B.C. boys Triple A rugby championship title in a decade, Saturday at Abbotsford’s Rotary Stadium.
“Their coaches are very good, and they knew what they had to do to beat us,” said relieved St. George’s head coach Mike Stiles after his side prevented the Stags from winning an unprecedented sixth straight provincial title and in doing so won its first crown since 2004, in large part to a pair of try-saving tackles in the final five minutes. “It’s a game that could have gone either way, but our defence was amazing.”
Added Stags head coach Tim Murdy: “It was a good, hard-fought final.”
After the Stags built a 12-3 lead early in the second half behind a pair of tries from Matt Beukeboom and Ben McKinnon, it certainly looked like the tide was flowing in the favour of the Vancouver Island powerhouse.
Berna, however, took the ball off a line-out and ran right through the Stags for a 40-metre try to make it 12-8, then off a broken play with about two minutes remaining, was able to find touch again for the win. Theo Sauder, who had earlier made good on a penalty, added a convert to round out the scoring.
The level of competition between the province’s top two sides was outstanding this season, Saturday’s three-point Saints’ win book-ending an early-season 10-8 win by the Stags. Shawnigan Lake beat St. George’s 17-12 in last season’s B.C. final.
“With about eight minutes left, it seemed like the game might be over,” admitted Stiles, “but our forwards never gave up and that is what has characterized this entire team this season.”
Training sessions, in fact, were pushed to a new level because the coaching staff had more than a sneaking feeling that if the title was to be won, it would have to go through Shawnigan Lake.
“In practice, we worked our guys so hard, because we knew they had to be prepared to play this particular game,” said Stiles. “They had to be ready, mentally and physically, for this particular game.”
Saints’ open-side flanker Braden Lukas, who epitomized the St. George’s defence, was the team’s selection to the post-tourney Commissioner’s XV.
LATER THIS WEEK: The BC senior girls Triple A soccer championships
