With several players unavailable for last Saturday’s game in Burnaby, Cowichan’s debut in the BC Rugby Women’s Premier League didn’t go as planned, with Cowichan losing 47-0.
“Unfortunately it didn’t go as we would have liked,” Cowichan captain Sherry Spence said. “In the week leading up we lost eight starting players due to flu or work commitments, so we made the trek with 16 players, in the torrential downpour, and we arrived later then expected so we didn’t have the warm up we would have liked especially in that weather.”
It was a slow, scrum-heavy match, and Burnaby got on the scoreboard early with back-to-back tries.
“They had a solid front row, but one of their props went down and it evened the scrum out,” Spence reported. “After that, the game was played back and forth midfield.”
Cowichan played better than the score indicated, Spence noted. Two new players, Brittney Brown and Sinead Mallison, performed well in their first appearances in the second row, and Alicia Parker played the entire match on wing, even covering both ends once Cowichan got down to 14 players.
Spence and back Rebecca Kerswell were given Player of the Game honours by Burnaby.
Cowichan will play host to Burnaby in a rematch this Saturday at 11:30 a.m., with a full squad available this time.
“I’m excited to see how things unfold,” Spence said. “This will be a true test of premier.”
