After a crushing loss a week earlier, the Cowichan Rugby Football Club’s senior women’s team rebounded in spectacular style to get a much-needed 43-20 road win over Burnaby Lake in a Premiership match last Saturday.
“It was a must-win,” Cowichan forward Sherry Spence said.
Burnaby played to their strengths, scoring all their poins through the forward pack, although Cowichan managed to hold up three attempts by Burnaby to crash over the line for tries.
The turning point came when Cowichan scored three tries in just two minutes. They started with a team try, working their way up the field to score. Burnaby restarted, but after a couple of passes, Carolyn Gudmundseth had the ball and ran it in for a try. The same thing happened on Burnaby’s next restart, only with Natasha Smith scoring the try.
Smith finished with two tries, while Gudmundseth, Angie Davies, Laura Russell, Kelly Russell and Jenna Bugden had one each. Gudmundseth and Laura Russell were picked by Burnaby as Players of the Game.
The victory was vital for Cowichan after a disappointing 106-0 loss to the Seattle Saracens in Washington the week before. After beating a very different Saracens team at Piggy Park, Cowichan had to make the long trip to Seattle with only 15 players, unable to sacrifice the loss of four points in the standings for a forfeit.
The win over Burnaby locked up a playoff spot for Cowichan, who will be off this weekend before hosting Castaway Wanderers on April 22.
Castaways is behind Cowichan in the standings, and won’t be able to catch them before the season ends.
