Finally... the Flatliner-Heroes... have come back... to King George Park... But the question remained: Could the Vancouver Rowing Club smell what Uncle Jimmy was cooking?
After playing the part of Road Warriors during the first half of the season, the Heroes caught a break with their first home game of 2011 against the Rowers. The vaunted and prestigious Canada Line Cup (also known as the Jamie Overgaard Memorial Trophy) was on the line, for only the second time. Richmond had won the previous third division encounter two years ago, but times had changed, and an almost entirely new cast of Heroes took the field against the VRC.
After a great opening set of forward phases, and sticking to the game plan, as so often happens, the opponents scored first against the flow of play. Richmond has yet to win a game in which they didn’t score first and some in-depth esearch shows that the Flatliner-Heroes have yet to score first in any of their 2011 games. However, this would not be another Brit-Lion bloodbath, as the RRFC kept it close with the boot of Jacob St. Cyr, who tallied three points off of a not-rolling-away Rowing Club penalty.
As the torrential downpour continued, and the puddles at KGP turned to small lakes, the VRC, and their experienced and bigger pack rolled in a pushover try to make the score 12 – 3. St. Cyr responded with another three points, to keep the game within striking distance, and did the Flatliner-Heroes ever strike! Some astute ball movement from newly minted number-ten Geoff Girling, led to the Fijian Flash, Navi, tallying his first try for the thirds. The convert was wide left, but the RRFC kept the pressure mounting, although they were unlucky to come away empty handed. A late Rowing Club try near the final buzzer gave the VRC a 19 – 11 win, and the rights to call themselves the Canada Line Cup winners of 2011.
Another unlucky result for the Flatliner-Heroes, who will try their luck in the BCRU Third Division next half, but an encouraging bit of work by the boys on what was a cold and blustery day, which may have been better spent tucked in bed reading the newest issue of ‘OK! Canada’ with the lady friend.
Man of the Match (Backs): Justin Jung
Man of the Match (Forwards): Gord Mafatow
A big thanks to referee Jon Malchy, the VRC and former RRFC Mini-Rugby Coach of the Year Jamie Overgaard for bringing the boys from Waterfront to Aberdeen station.
Flatliner-Heroes Line-Up vs. VRC (Wrestlemania Edition)
1. Gord "The Blue Blazer" Mafatow
2. Joe "Mankind" Vernier
3. Jason "Hornswoggle" Palmer
4. Josh “Bubba-Ray Dudley” Poehlke
5. Greg "John Cena" Cocking
6. Richard "Mr. Fuji" Chen
7. Andrew "Kane" MacIntyre
8. Jordan "The Undertaker" Howlett
9. Jacob "Hardy Boy" St. Cyr
10. James "The Rock" Tracey
11. Matt "Rey Mysterio" Wong-Rose
12. Matt "Diamond Dallas Page" McIntyre
13. Navi "Rakishi" Fiji
14. Sean "Million Dollar Man" Murray
15. Graham "Rowdy Roddy Piper" Haigh
16. Erkin "The Iron Sheik" Duzenli
17. Mike "Gold Dust" Hall
18. Justin "X-Pac" Jung
19. Greg "Razor Ramone" Palin
20. Kevin "Goldberg" Parker
21. Dave "Stone Cold" Carlson
22. Geoff "Big Show" Girling
