An early lead slipped away for the Cowichan Thunderbirds in a senior girls rugby match against Shawnigan Lake School last Thursday, but the 45-36 final score still showed how much promise the Cowichan team has this spring.
“We went in knowing it was going to be a tough match and were up for the challenge,” T-Birds coach Sherry Spence said, noting that Shawnigan defeated Cowichan 37-5 when they met last year.
Tries by Melanie Robertson and Madison Jumeau, both converted by Lucy Boon, gave the T-Birds a 14-10 lead by the 20-minute mark, but Shawnigan pulled ahead before halftime.
Jumeau finished the game with three tries, Robertson, Mia Eagar and Hannah Gundersen had one each, and Macy Wiebe added a convert to go with Boon’s pair.
Wiebe also made some big tackles at fullback, among many contributions the T-Birds got from their Grade 9 players in the match.
Cowichan and Shawnigan will square off again this Friday at Shawnigan, beginning at 4 p.m.
The Cowichan junior team headed to the Comox Valley last week to play G.P. Vanier’s development side and Mark R. Isfeld. Rookie Laurel Hayes opened the scoring after picking off a Vanier pass, her first of two tries on the day. Jaxon Baker added three and Tamara Knight-Robinson and Brooklyn Hill had one each in a 35-15 Cowichan win.
The junior T-Birds lost 24-0 to the unbeaten Isfeld team.
“The Isfeld defence was just too strong for the junior side,” Spence said.
