In terms of historical perspective, it would be like the New York Yankees playing the Seattle Mariners in the World Series or the Montreal Canadiens meeting the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup final.
The Rounsefell Cup final today, emblematic of sa国际传媒 Premier rugby supremacy, will feature a team with almost more championships than it can count against a team looking for its first.
James Bay Athletic Association has won 22 Rounsefell Cup titles since 1925. Burnaby Lake has won none.
鈥淲e want to keep it that way,鈥� JBAA Bays head coach Pete Rushton quipped about Burnaby鈥檚 record. 鈥淏ut this is a great match-up. It鈥檚 going to be a very interesting final.鈥�
The Rounsefell Cup begins at 4 p.m. and concludes a championship triple-header day at the University of Victoria鈥檚 Wallace Field that features Island teams against sides from Burnaby Lake.
The Gordon Harris Memorial Cup final between the Velox Valkyries of Saanich and Burnaby Lake, for the sa国际传媒 women鈥檚 Premier title, kicks off the championship rugby-palooza at noon.
It is the third consecutive meeting between the Valkyries and Burnaby Lake (both 6-1 on the season) in the Cup final. Velox went undefeated last season in winning the sa国际传媒 title but has undergone a rebuilding season with Frederique Rajotte, Brittany Sims, Chelsey Minter and Kelsey Oetting leading the way. The Lakers, led by Canadian national team player and sa国际传媒 leading scorer Julia Sugawara, are looking to regain the provincial title they last held in 2011.
The Ceili鈥檚 Cup sa国际传媒 men鈥檚 Div. 1 final, featuring the UVic Norsemen against Burnaby Lake, is at 2 p.m.
Then comes the main event.
JBAA and Burnaby Lake were both 10-4 in the men鈥檚 sa国际传媒 Premier regular season with semifinal playoff victories last week against Capilanos and Castaway Wanderers, respectively.
The clubs are 1-1 head-to-head this season.
Burnaby Lake鈥檚 rise has been steady and purposeful, going from being mired in last place in the league in 2010 to the playoff quarter-finals in 2011 and semifinals in 2012 鈥� the latter a wrenching two-point loss to JBAA that denied the Lakers鈥� dream of finally playing in the Cup final after two decades.
This year, Burnaby got there. Only one step remains.
Unlike the Island teams, with their flashy rosters often filled with current and past Canadian national team players, Burnaby Lake has been more organically grown from within its club system.
The Mike Gough-captained side doesn鈥檛 have a lot of marquee players, other than the dangerous league-leading scorer James Reekie, but it has evolved into a marquee club.
鈥淏urnaby is solid all the way through,鈥� Rushton said. 鈥淭hey have consistency within the group. It鈥檚 the same team week after week with team cohesion. In rugby, that鈥檚 huge.鈥�
But JBAA, the greatest name in Canadian club rugby, has the tradition even though its last Rounsefell Cup titles came during a run of three straight from 2006 to 2008.
The Bays, who lost a tight heartbreaker to Capilano in last year鈥檚 Cup final, have the players who have been through it all.
鈥淓xperience is a factor on our side and has always been an advantage for us鈥� Rushton said.
鈥淲e have players who have played for sa国际传媒 internationally and in the Rounsefell Cup before.鈥�
That counts for a lot when you consider names on the Bays roster such as 2007 Canadian World Cup captain Morgan Williams, 2011 World Cup player Sean White, other past Canadian internationals Jeff Williams and David Moonlight and reliable veterans such as Neil Meechan, Francis Yoon, Nolan Miles, Ben Johnson and captain Spence Dalziel.
Emerging JBAA star player Tyler Ardron, considered sa国际传媒鈥檚 World Cup captain of the future, is back in town after playing last week with sa国际传媒 in the IRB Sevens circuit, but there was an issue of eligibility being ironed out prior to today鈥檚 Cup final due to Ardron having missed certain club games because of his international commitments. That will be a key decision.
Admission to the grounds today for the Cup triple-header is $15 general and $10 youth (under-15) and students with ID.
