One of Vancouver Island's keenest sports rivalries was renewed at the McGeachy Memorial Cup high school girls rugby tournament this past weekend in Duncan when the host Cowichan Thunderbirds edged the Vanier Towhees 21-14 in the final.
Both teams advanced through pool play with relative ease, Vanier defeating Ladysmith 35-0 and Brentwood 12-7 while the T-Birds topped Alberni 17-10 and blanked Walnut Grove 34-0. That set the stage for an entertaining final. Brentwood finished third, Alberni fourth, Walnut Grove fifth and Ladysmith sixth.
"The McGeachy tournament is a great prequel to the season as it allows me to play everyone and see what each of my players can do," said Vanier coach Dwayne Mills. "We never go to the tournament to win; instead we focus on giving every player an equal taste of the game. Fortunately for Vanier, despite this year's team being full of players new to the game, the team does have a lot of depth and athleticism.
"As this was our first time in the finals of the tournament, we decided to make a run for it and play our best players versus Cowichan," Mills said. "Even though both teams lost a number of key players last year due to graduation, the rivalry is still alive. Some fortunate bounces led to an early lead for Vanier (who were up 14-0 at the half), but once we lost a player to the sin bin Cowichan started to take advantage of our short-handed backline and scored three tries in a short period of time.
"We tried our best to score at the end of the game, but after a negated try for a forward pass and a subsequent hold up in Cowichan's try area, the end of game whistle blew with Vanier once again being on the losing end," Mills said.
"Cowichan's players did well to overcome a two-try deficit, which is a testament to the excellent coaching they have received from Brad Skene. He continues to develop teams that play a dynamic style that is fun to watch and difficult to play against."
Skene was impressed that his team was able to rally in the second half. "To come back and score three tries after being under tremendous pressure demonstrates the commitment that these players have to each other and their resilience under pressure.
"With a number of multi-sport athletes, work commitments and other conflicts, we were actually shorthanded in the backs for the final. Alison Franks and Brittany Reid were put into tough, tough situations. Franks had never played a rugby game in her life but had trained at inside centre. With the other centres not able to play, she started and rose to the occasion. Reid played very little at fullback last year and had been training this year at stand-off. As a Grade 10 Reid worked very hard but only played in short bits of games, her commitment to team and to learning created a break-out performance in the final this year."
After the intermission, Skene said Ashleigh Chaster and Sabrina McDonald proved to be too hard and strong of runners for Vanier to handle. Keneille Coleman and Heather Derocher demonstrated their skills and leadership ability by directing the offence.
"Sophie Cutt, who was named female player of the tournament, shut down Vanier's best player and scored two tries, including the game winner. Newly acquired Grade 12 Grace Gillman kicked three conversions under pressure. Brittany Reid, who was 'thrown' into fullback, scored on a 50-metre try off a perfectly performed backline play. In the last five minutes, Cowichan played frantic defence to hold off Vanier and on the final play of the game Vanier was held up in-goal," Skene noted.
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