The previous story heading was “Can UBC Be Defeated” and the answer was yes as UVic proved today but UBC win the CanWest 7s title by virtue of their first two tournament wins. UVic claim 2nd place in the series and TWU 3rd. The final session at UBC including the UVic v UBC match can be viewed on the Canada West TV stream. Commentary today was provided by Shalaya Valenzuela and Skye Farish.
UBC have all but clinched the CanWest 7s title, it would be their 4th straight title and would match UVic who won 4 titles from 2018 to 2022. There’s one tournament left at UBC in March but with a commanding 6 point lead in the series standings it would not only require UVic to beat UBC but another team to beat UBC as well, unlikely based on current form. Top try scorers in the tournament for UBC Jaime Dickson with 6 tries, Adia Pye, Kiki Idowu, Piper Logan all with 5 tries. For UVic Ivy Poetker was top try scorer with 8 tries, making her the top tournament try scorer and with 7 tries in the first tournament, she’s leading the series try scoring count at 15. Adia Pye with 9 tries in Edmonton and 5 in Victoria is 2nd with 14 tries overall.
UBC continue to roll in 7s as they take the first of three tournaments in the CanWest 7s series. They are three-time defending champions and it looks like they may be in line for a four-peat with UVic their closest rivals. Adia Pye scored 9 tries for UBC in the tournament, Kiki Idowu scored 5 tries, Lana Dueck 4 tries, Olivia Sahabura 3 tries, Piper Logan 2 tries. For UVic, who came 2nd, top scorers were Ivy Poetker with 7 tries, Olivia Newsome 4 tries, Vanessa Chiapetta 3 tries, Maggie Mackinnon 2 tries. For TWU who came 3rd, Kelsa Kempf scored 6 tries, Kamryn Howlett 4 tries, Ava Van Santen 3 tries. The next tournament is in Victoria on Feb. 7th and 8th.
There was a lot of press in November around the McGill University decision to cut 25 sports programs. The McGill University women’s rugby program, which was one of the 25, started an awareness campaign and a fundraising campaign to get the program reinstated. They exceeded their initial goal of $35k and are currently aiming for $75k with $55k currently raised. It reminded me of a similar UBC action in 2014 which included a notice that the UBC women’s rugby program would be cut. The difference is that the UBC process seemed to go through a longer consultation process and at least a couple of reviews. The UBC women’s rugby program is still very much active and they’ve actually won the last two university championships.
The University of Guelph became the first Ontario university to claim the men’s national university title when they defeated hosts ETS 18-13 on Sunday. In the Bronze medal match it was UBC over UVic 27-12. UBC had won 5 of the first 6 championships with UVic winning the other, ETS broke the BC dominance last year and Guelph have put their name on the cup this year.
UBC repeat as U SPORTS champions with a last minute win over UVic. UVic went up 3-0 in the first quarter on a penalty kick, UBC scored the first try set up by a strong run by prop Kiki Idowu and finished off by fullback Olivia Saraburu, 7-3 for UBC. UBC added a penalty in the second half to go up 10-3. UVic hit back with a halfback combination try, #9 Justine Blatt Janmaat with the line break and offload to #10 Ella O’Regan, 10-8 for UBC with 20 minutes left. UVic wing Eden Kilgour put UVic ahead with a try outside with 5 minutes left, 13-10 for UVic. UBC scored at the whistle, a try outside by wing Adia Pye, 15-13 UBC to end the match
UVic claimed the Canada West title with another narrow victory over UBC. UBC are current U SPORTS title holders and are hosting the U SPORTS rugby championship which starts later this month. UVic defeated UBC with a come from behind win, trailing by 6 points with 10 minutes remaining, they scored a try at the 74′ mark and made the important conversion to claim the Western title. The match report from CanWest is posted below.
UBC confirmed their #1 ranking as they go 4-0 in the BC University qualifying series, TWU need a massive win next weekend against UVic to qualify for the nationals. Pacific Pride dominate in the Valley with a lopsided win. The Oakville Crusaders Junior program took a double from the Ravens on Friday and Ravens edged CW on Saturday.
There are no Premier games this Thanksgiving Weekend but there are two Premier level matches taking place this weekend plus the Oakville Crusaders Junior Program are on the Island for matches with the Ravens and CW.
Both the men’s and women’s University championship are on the horizon. The women are first with UBC hosting the championship between October 29th and November 2nd. They are defending champions but have been beaten twice by UVic in the CanWest conference. They currently sit in 5th place in the national rankings, UVic are ranked 3rd with Queen’s and Laval sitting at #1 and #2.