Senior Girls Rugby: second on the Island by a whisker!

The Senior Girls came through two challenging matches on Friday and Saturday with flying colours. As part of the Island AA championships we faced Ladysmith on Friday in a 36-minute game played with lots of vigour on both sides. Sarah Barber celebrated her return from injury with a superb support try converted by Nellie. Ladysmith stormed back with tries from their #8 and their fast right wing. In typical fashion, we responded with a fine team try following a kick ahead by Nellie, a solid tackle to free the ball and a well-timed pass to Lenutsa who burst over the line. A well-earned 12-10 win. On Saturday we faced Shawnigan having lost by 17 points just a week ago. Both teams tried to run the ball wide but aggressive tackling made that difficult. Both forward packs rucked ruthlessly and there were a number of stoppages for players being shaken up. Shawnigan opened the scoring late in the first half on a penalty kick from quite a narrow angle. After that, both sides resorted to more kicking on attack, but the catching and counter-attacking was commendable on both sides. We had to defend our line desperately from a penalty 5 m out but the defence held. In the dying moments, we had the upper hand and Lenutsa made a superb run through the heart of their defense to be tackled 8 m from their line without enough support. Nellie had a chance to tie the game near the end, but her well- struck kick fell 2m short. This result should give the team a confidence boost as they prepare for the B.C. championships in two weeks time.

Jim Burrows