The Salmon Arm high school girls’ rugby team jumped to an early lead at South Kamloops, saw it snatched away in the second half, but rallied to tie 29-29 in an exciting game Wednesday.
Trice Tuaiti, Juli McLean and Grace Rempel zipped in to capitalize on scoring chances made possible by relentless support in loose play from their teammates. With Rempel’s conversion kick, and a lone try by the South Kamloops backline, the score was 17-5 at half-time.
There must have been a heck of a pep talk in the South Kamloops huddle, however, as they came roaring back in the second half and pounced on every Salmon Arm mistake.
Although the Jewels pack dominated in set scrums and most lineouts, wild offloads and contact mauls in the loose were scooped up or stripped by lurking South Kamloops attackers and quickly fed out to their backline.
The talented rival backs launched repeated high-speed attacks, inspiring determined tackles and chases from Olivia Plummer, Kaisha Fagrie and Amy Sandy among other Jewels. But South Kam would not be denied and pounded in four tries during the second half, two of which were converted.
During the mayhem, Brooke Miller ran in a sideline try for the Jewels. Then rookie second row Kaylee Jameson posted a classic scrambling try between the posts in the last five minutes of the game. Rempel converted Jameson’s marker to even the score at 29. But heat and tiredness had worn down the Jewels, who could not muster the momentum for a further try before the final whistle.
This was the last game of the Jewels’ league season, which they and SKSS finished by ranking #3 or #4 behind North Kamloops and Penticton.
The Jewels’ next game will be Wednesday, May 7, a first playoff against one of the two top-ranked teams, in which the losing team will be eliminated. The venue for that game has yet to be determined – details will be made available through SASS Rugby shortly.
