The Bayside Sharks lost their penultimate game of the men’s first division rugby season Saturday in Seattle, but by picking up bonus points, still did enough to stay atop the standings.
The Sharks lost 31-24 to Seattle – whom the Peninsula squad beat at South Surrey Athletic Park earlier in the season – but picked up two points, one for losing within seven points and another for scoring at least four tries. Those two points proved key, as they keep the Sharks tied for first with the Vancouver Rowing Club, with one game left on the schedule.
And though the Rowers have one more win than the Sharks, it’s Bayside that holds the tiebreaker, as they have a better points for/against ratio than the Rowers in the teams’ two head-to-head matchups; in the first game, Vancouver won by two, but Bayside won by 12 in the rematch, giving them a 10-point advantage.
That said, Sharks coach Pat Kearney would rather it not come down to a tiebreaker at all, instead preferring his team put itself into as good a position as possible against the Velox Valhallians this Saturday at South Surrey Athletic Park.
“It’s not the worst spot to be in, having the tiebreaker, but we still need to go into this weekend’s game and get five points against Velox,” he said. “I think we have a good chance to finish first (and get a first-round playoff bye), but we have to win. It should be a pretty good weekend of rugby.”
At the very least, Kearney hopes his team will come out with a better effort than the one they put forth last Saturday in the Emerald City – a game in which Seattle jumped out to a 15-0 lead early and led 20-5 by halftime.
“That was a tough one, man,” Kearney said, adding that his squad was playing without a handful of regulars due to other commitments, or trouble crossing the border.
“Our Fijian guys couldn’t cross – they don’t have the right paperwork, so we were definitely a little thin, sure. But that’s not an excuse – those other guys just wanted it more than we did, and they jumped on us a little bit early.”
Still, Kearney was impressed with how his team battled back, outscoring Seattle 19-11 in the second half.
“We played hard, so even though you’re upset to lose, it’s not that bad. We were one or two plays away from tying the game, and maybe even winning it,” he said. “It ended OK, but we’ve still got some things we have to work on.”
Zach Thorpe, Jesse Train, Cody Rockson and Levi Hansen scored tries for the Sharks, while Pete Clifford added two conversions.
