The Vanier Towhees senior girls rugby team continued their highly successful season by capturing their first-ever Vancouver Island AAA championship on the weekend.
The Towhees travelled down to Brentwood College School on Saturday for the first time as the number one ranked team on the Island. Their main competition, the Cowichan Thunderbirds, were waiting for them, having defeated Port Alberni 21-5 in a qualification game earlier in the week.
Winner of the previous five Island championships, all in defeat of Vanier, Cowichan was prepared to avenge their two league losses to Vanier this year (the teams split their previous four meetings).
Despite both teams being in a rebuilding year, the level of competition has remained high as the well- coached Cowichan squad is always prepared to play competitive rugby, a Vanier team spokesperson said.
The Towhees had the early momentum as standoff Dana Beirnes executed a perfect option play up the middle of the field to split the Cowichan centres and score at the five-minute mark. Unfortunately Vanier was unable to convert and the game began to shift at that point. Due to a myriad of penalties and an adjustment in strategy on the part of Cowichan, the Thunderbirds proceeded to dictate the pace of the game as they maintained possession of the ball for the rest of the first half.
Vanier played tough defence with Madi Gold, Molly Florian and Sarah Schienbein playing prominent roles, but in the final moments of the first half Cowichan managed to score and the teams entered half time tied.
In the second half the Vanier offence came to life as Beirnes, Chelsea Tancon and Lydia Gaudry led the attack. After near misses at the try line by both Beirnes and 8-man Claire Janssen, Samantha Rumney managed a turnover on Cowichan’s five-metre line which resulted in Gaudry touching the ball down for Vanier’s second try.
While the convert was again unsuccessful, the Vanier girls fed of the momentum and Gaudry again capitalized off a tiring Cowichan defensive line to score her second try of the game off a beautiful pass from Gloria Vankerrebroek. After Tancon nailed the convert and time was ticking down, Cowichan led one final charge down the field to score a try in the last minute of the game, but it was too late as Vanier had claimed the victory with a final score of 17-12.
After the match Florian was presented with the prestigious Courtenay Taffe Memorial award which recognizes the most inspirational player on the Island. Beirnes was also recognized for her efforts both on and off the field as she was awarded a Vancouver Island girls rugby bursary. The Towhees now have a week to prepare for the provincial championships in North Vancouver on May 23-26 where they will enter ranked third in the province. Cowichan and Port Alberni also earned Island berths to the B.C.s.
