McRoberts Strikers were Bowl Champions at the B.C. High School Girls Sevens Rugby Championships in Victoria.
McRoberts had a difficult start to the tournament, losing its first two games — a tough opening match-up against #5 ranked GP Vanier (Courtenay), followed by a narrow defeat to #6 ranked Cowichan.
However, with elimination from playoff competition looming, the 14th ranked Strikers rallied together behind fifth-year captain Thalia Puac and handed Smithers a lopsided loss 34-7.
Both second-year prop Danielle Robertson (with a nifty step inside followed by a 40-yard scamper) and fourth-year Lock Jaya Gill scored tries, while third-year flanker Elizabeth Shin and second-year hooker Rainalyne Solaria made several try-saving tackles on girls twice their size.
McRoberts finished day one with a 25-5 win over Nechako Valley (Vanderhoof) after some evasive running by third-year backs Kaitlyn Agda and Moé Yang created a handful of tries. The Strikers were also inspired by the play of rookie winger Keelin Laing, who led the team in tackles in her fourth game, resulting in just a single try against.
Day two saw the girls enter the Bowl semi-finals against Lower Mainland league rivals Handsworth.
After a back and forth first half resulted in a deadlocked score, tactical subs — rookie-winger Natalie Lester — with her strong and steady running — and prop Selina Zhou — with her well-timed straight-arms allowing her to keep possession of the ball at all-costs — re-energized the Strikers in the second half.
It paved the way for rookie centre Leah Barber to score her second and third tries of the tournament and led McRoberts to 22-10 victory.
The result put the girls into the Bowl finals (ninth Place in the province) to be played in front of 3,000 spectators at the Langford Westhills Stadium during a break in play at the World Rugby Sevens event later in the day.
Their opponents would be Belmont (Victoria) located just down the street from the stadium.
With many local fans in attendance, the home-field advantage would enable Belmont to get out to a 12-7 lead early in the second half. However a 40-yard run by Valerie Wideski, dragging would-be tacklers as she went, set-up a try by fifth-year scrum half Tatum Friegang under the posts. The convert by Wideski put McRoberts in front 14-12.
A final try by Friegang (her third of the game), after a long kick by Wideski, put the game on ice as time expired, and the girls won their first piece of hardware at the provincial tournament since its inception three years ago.
The Strikers revert back to their 15-a-side season with remaining games against cross-town rivals McMath and Windsor (North Vancouver). They also will look to compete in the AA-playoffs for a chance to advance to next month’s provincials in Kamloops.
The team is coached by Graham Haigh, with assistance from Geoff Girling, Lily Du and Nina Chang.
