Girls Win Islands
Shawnigan’s “Iron Women” came through a tough battle Saturday to successfully become the Vancouver Island Girls’s ‘AA’ Rugby Champions.
Their quest began Friday playing the 4th seed, Ballenas from Parksville. Shawnigan cruised to a convincing win, which set up Saturday’s final against Brentwood. The early going was all Shawnigan and we led 12-0 at the half on tries by Jules and Rachel and it looked as though Shawnigan had the game under control. As fast as I’m writing this a couple of handling errors and poor defence brought Brentwood into the game and the score moved to 12-7. This gave Brentwood the momentum they were looking for and they soon gained the lead with a spectacular run by Brentwood’s winger, which was her second of the game. The conversion was good and Brentwood took the lead 14-12 with 7 minutes left in the game. The “Iron Women” pressed but were let down with some more errant passing and poor decision making. However, they persevered and their continued pressure led to the awarding of a penalty on the last play of the game. Shawnigan chose to kick the penalty. Jules struck the ball well and Shawnigan came out the victor 15-14. It was an exciting finish but on the day Shawnigan looked the better team and deserved to win. The Provincial Championships will take place Thursday, May 27 - Saturday May 29th in White Rock. Shawnigan is ranked 3rd in the Province and hope to avenge a loss in the final in 2008. Shawnigan will play Hugh McRoberts High School at 10am Thursday and Sahali at 2pm. The next day’s game will be determined on the outcome of their two Thursday games.
– Mark Hall, Coach
Photos by Wendy Woollven