The Castaway Wanderers鈥� task seems, on the surface at least, brutally simple.
Win out in their final two Canadian Direct Insurance sa国际传媒 Premier Rugby League regular-season games with bonus points and the Wanderers are guaranteed to move from fifth place to overtake the fourth-place Meralomas and land one of the four Rounsefell Cup playoff positions.
But that鈥檚 easier said than played.
Up for CW (5-6-1) today is a home fixture at 2:45 p.m. at Windsor Park against surprise league-leading Burnaby Lake (9-3), which seems to have come out of nowhere to win eight consecutive games.
Next week is the pivotal season curtain-dropper against Meralomas.
鈥淲e control our own destiny,鈥� said CW head coach Ian Hyde-Lay.
鈥淏ut if we don鈥檛 win with bonus points, anything can still happen, including UVic (5-6-1) beating us out for fourth place.鈥�
There is no better time for CW than today to get back Canadian national team sevens standout Ciaran Hearn, who has a break in his international schedule. But this surging Burnaby Lake squad is not to be taken lightly.
鈥淏urnaby has been solid for several years now and were unlucky not to beat James Bay last year in the semifinals,鈥� noted Hyde-Lay.
鈥淏urnaby Lake is deep and physical with a lot of speed. They have laid beatings on three very good teams over the last three weeks. We certainly have our work cut out for us. We can鈥檛 be loose with the ball. They cash in on turnovers. We need to look after the ball.鈥�
It isn鈥檛 every day that that you鈥檒l find arch-nemesis James Bay Athletic Association rooting for a CW win. But that will be the situation today as the second-place Bays (8-4) are hoping for a CW win over Burnaby Lake to keep alive JBAA鈥檚 hopes for the league regular-season crown.
James Bay is in White Rock today to take on the eighth-place Bayside Sharks (2-10) with a backfield expected to include sa国际传媒 sevens players Tyler Ardron, Thyssen De Goode and John Moonlight.
The Vikes, meanwhile, will try to enhance their playoff chances but face a difficult away game against third-place Capilano.
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