Girls' Rugby
The British Columbia Rugby Union hosted the first U18 High School Girls 7-a-side tournament at John Oliver Park in Delta. The tournament consisted of a 5 team round robin with the first and second place teams going to the final. The Wednesday before we left for the tournament, Mr. Williams, a former Canada Sevens player gave the girls a quick lesson on how the game was played. Early the next morning12 excited girls left the school at 5am to play the number one seeded team, Cowichan High School, in their first game. The girls made hard work of the first encounter and gave up four tries in a rather one-sided contest. Clearly the girls hadn't caught on to the speed and strategy necessary in this exciting new game. However, the next three games saw the Shawnigan Iron women sort a few things out and they ended up in the final with the same Cowichan team. The game started very well and it was plain to see that Shawnigan was beginning to understand the game. They threw the ball around, but unfortunately, had some handling errors and weak tackling that put us behind very quickly. The second half was very different and Shawnigan controlled the game with some skillful work around the park. They had Cowichan desperately defending but just came up short as the final whistle blew to lose 15-7. It was a great way to end and the girls put on a great display of Sevens rugby
Our second league game saw the Shawnigan "Iron Women" defeat a young and inexperienced side handily. The forwards completely dominated their opponents and scored several impressive tries with their "pick and go" style of game. Ladysmith never got untracked and couldn't contain the constant onslaught of the Shawnigan girls. Shawnigan now stands at 2-0 on the season with the next league game Tuesday April 19th vs Cowichan. This Saturday the "Iron Women" will take on number one seed AAA Carson Graham from North Vancouver. They will be a handful, but the Shawnigan girls are looking forward to the contest. It will be a good measuring stick for the girls and I expect it will be a tough game. Kick-off is at 1pm
– Mark Hall, Coach
Photos by Stephen Lane