The McRoberts senior girls rugby team took another step forward with their recent performance at the B.C. Secondary Schools Sevens Championships at UBC.
Placing 11th in 2015 and ninth in 2016, the girls were able to pull off a few upset wins to secure their highest ranking in school history with a seventh place finish.
After capturing the Lower Mainland zone championships in North Vancouver, the Strikers entered the provincials seeded eighth and had a first game match-up with top ranked Shawnigan Lake from Vancouver Island.
McRoberts was able to keep the game close at half, trailing 5-0, but ran out of gas in the late stages of the game, conceding a few tries in the final minutes to lose 22-0.
Knowing they needed to win at least two games to reach the quarter-finals, the Strikers came out flying against Prince Rupert, scoring twice before their Northwest Zone opponents knew what had happened.
They had four tries in the opening half, including a pair by scrum-half Elsie Gonzalez, en route to a 22-10 win.
First-year players Anjulee Chibbarr, with her ferocious tackling, and Isabella McKillop, with her evasive running, were able to pin Prince Rupert in its own end as the Strikers were unlucky not to come away with more points in the second half.
The final pool game saw the Strikers taking on last year’s fourth place finishers Valleyview from Kamloops.
They knew a win would put them into the final eight for the first time in school history and the girls came out firing on all cylinders.
Some punishing tackles by Valerie Wideski kept the larger Valleyview forwards on their heels, while crafty counter-rucking by Rainalyne Solaria allowed for McRoberts to steal the ball on several occasions, outscoring their Interior opponents six tries to one. The girls produced several tries because of great ball movement and hard running by Kira Langer, Jessica Wang and Moe Yang which resulted in the day’s second victory.
The Strikers were through to the “Cup” round with a quarter final match-up with the Oak Bay (Victoria) Barbarians to end the day.
Progressing to the semi-finals would be a monumental task as Oak Bay’s roster is littered with elite players, including senior national team hopeful Sophie DeGoode. Although the final score was lopsided in Oak Bay’s favour, inspiring running and tackling by forwards Nini Weng and Kyra Bates drew rave reviews from those in attendance.
Despite being out of the running for a medal, the girls would regroup on Saturday morning to play for the “Plate” against Elgin Park.
Inspirational team captain Kaitlyn Agda, battling an ankle injury, was sidelined from the early morning game, forcing the Strikers to play several players out of position. In the end, the strong kicking of Elgin’s backs put McRoberts under too much pressure in a 22-0 loss, setting up a Plate consolation game against North Vancouver’s Handsowrth Royals.
The Strikers wanted the bragging rights against their Lower Mainland rival and a shot at seventh place, despite being without a handful of injured players.
After a fortuitous bit of footwork by centre Leah Barber, forward Danielle Robertson scampered 60 metres to open the scoring. This tone-setting effort was followed by a strong run from Alex Angeles, fending off would-be tacklers to score under the posts for her first-ever try.
Wideski hit four of five converts to give McRoberts a comfortable lead 33-0 at half, but it was 7-a-side newcomers, prop Sydney Martin-Towers, scrum-half Angel Lozare and forward Kira Langer’s strong on-the-ball work that allowed the Strikers to keep their lead and secure their best ever finish.
The team is now focused on earning a berth for the 15-a-side provincials. The Strikers are led by alumni associate coaches Thalia Puac, Jaya Gill and Elizabeth Shin, as well as third-year head coach Graham Haigh.
