Article content continued

Burnaby kept hammering away, but couldn’t find a cutting edge until a try for Cole McQueen with just over a dozen minutes to play made the score 26-12 and gave pause that perhaps there was an electric finish to come.

The Lakers kept dominating territory, but both teams looked to be wearing down despite the fine conditions.

Burnaby got a third try, this time from Mike O’Toole, but Joe Reekie missed the conversion, leaving Burnaby down by nine. They would need two scores and with so little time left, the writing looked on the wall.

UBC managed to get an attack together with time ticking down and when Burnaby conceded a desperate penalty, McQueen stepped up to nail the kick through the posts and the referee blew for full time.

UBC scrum half Jorden Sandover-Best admitted afterwards it wasn’t the prettiest way to win in the end, but all that matters at times like this is the result.

“Yeah a win is definitely a win, especially in a final,” he said. “We showed our pace in the first half and finished some team tries. Second half Burnaby tightened up their scrum and they were able to play off that and penalties which gave them a ton of momentum but a 26-0 lead is tough to come back from regardless.”

It’s quite the capper for an excellent run with the varsity for Sandover-Best and a number of his teammates. There still plenty of rugby to come in his career, he said.

“Funny thing is you’re not the first person to suggest Disneyland to me after the game, maybe I need to go for the serious unwind,” he said. “Hopefully there is a shot at some Rugby Canada down the road but I see a few more good years of rugby for me so I’ll look to play a competitive brand of rugby somewhere locally.”

Westshore romp to women’s title

In the women’s final, Westshore from suburban Victoria blasted away Seattle 67-17.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

twitter.com/risingaction

facebook.com/tryandtackle