The Abbotsford Rugby Football Club closed out the Premier League men’s campaign on an encouraging note, as they dropped a hard-fought 32-31 decision to Meraloma Rugby Club in Vancouver last Saturday.
The Meralomas (5-1-1) came in ranked second out of eight B.C. Premier teams, but Abby gave them a battle to the bitter end.
Denis Bigras, Jeremy Swaan, Chris Chalmers and Matts Batryn scored tries for Abbotsford, while Chris Gilding booted four converts and a penalty kick.
The loss left the youthful Abbotsford club winless (0-7) against Premier League qualifying teams, though they did pick up two bonus points for scoring four tries and finishing within seven points of Meraloma. The local side had earlier notched wins over the Velox Valhallians and the Vancouver Rowing Club, but those results don’t count in the final standings because both those teams were relegated at midseason.
In other action, the Abby Div. 1 men’s side beat the Meralomas 20-16, with Brian Chin and Trent Bourke scoring tries and Jordan Tait-Comis kicking a pair of converts and penalty kicks.
Burnaby blew out the local Div. 3 side 29-5, with a try from Chin accounting for all the Abby points.
The ARFC Div. 1 women scored a dominant 44-10 win over the Brit Lions. Stephanie Thiessen led the way with a pair of tries and two converts.