UBC women’s rugby (2–0) dominated the University of Calgary Dinos (1–1) with a shutout score of 41–0 Thursday night at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre.
The Thunderbirds were anticipating the return of winger Piper Logan, who was away representing Rugby Canada 7’s this past month in South Africa. She delivered with tries to open each half; one only three minutes into the game and the other in the ninth minute of the second half which was converted by fly-half Savannah Bauder for a 29–0 lead over Calgary.
The T-Birds continuously showed a deep understanding of rugby gameplay with incredible back plays — including kicks and switches — tackles, rucks, line-outs and mauls. While constantly hitting their balls at pace, the ‘Birds managed to score seven tries. Some scorers included Rori Wood in the 21st minute of the game, Sadie Gluvic to close the first half and Bauder who attempted nearly all of the team’s conversions. Two tries were scored by Olivia Sarabura; the first in the opening 18 minutes and the second, converted by herself, for the final score of the game.
UBC head coach Dean Murten had nothing but praises to sing for his players after the game. “To come away with zero on the scoreboard makes me really happy,” he said.
When asked about their rucking choices, Murten said that the team tried to win too many balls last week and the strategy hurt them. “This week we talked really hard about decision-making,” he said.
“We have a saying: one bullet one kill. So one person goes in and clears it out,” said Murten. This was evident as UBC kept possession for the majority of the 80 minutes of play, even counter-rucking to steal the ball back from the scrambling Dinos.
UBC will be looking to keep up the momentum as they have just over a week to prepare to host the Lethbridge Pronghorns (0–2) on Sunday, September 25 at 1 p.m. at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre.