Senior Wildcats win rugby title

Senior Wildcats win rugby title
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published May 31, 2003

The ending was a little anti-climactic, but the Burnaby Central senior rugby squad captured the Lower Mainland Tier 2 championship by earning a 5-5 draw against the Cambie Crusaders on Wednesday night.
The Wildcats came out strong in the first five minutes to earn the only points they needed to claim the New Zealand Shield - the name of the AAA Tier 2 title.
The Wildcats' winning try was scored by Suliasi Vaikava. The convert attempt missed.
Cambie replied with its own unconverted try before the end of the first half, and then the two teams hunkered down to defence.
"Both teams were making mistakes left and right," Wildcats coach Paul Kuhn said. "One good play from either team and the game would swing back and forth. There were a lot of changing field positions and the game was pretty much back and forth."
Things got tense in the first period of sudden death overtime when Cambie very nearly scored to win the championship, but Wildcat defender Mark Dalla Bennetta made a last-chance grasp of a Richmond player's jersey to haul down what would have been a guaranteed scoring play.
"Mark made a huge play that in sudden death would have been the end of it," said his coach.
When overtime ended with the teams still tied, the Wildcats were handed the pennant by virtue of the fact that they scored first - an ending that left the winning coach less than impressed.
"It was a convoluted and arbitrary decision," Kuhn said. "Probably the only thing worse than winning a championship on the old soccer format is losing a game like that.
"It must be heartbreaking for the other team."
But the Wildcats certainly deserved the title. The team went undefeated through the regular season, winning five league games and three playoff matches before Wednesday's title match.