VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds are set to battle a familiar foe as they'll face the UBCOB Ravens in the Rounsefell Cup, Rugby Premier League Provincial final this Saturday, May 5
th, with a 4:30 p.m. kickoff at Stadium Field, Exhibition Park, in Abbotsford B.C.
The T-Birds are the three-time defending champions and will be looking to extend that to a fourth straight title taking on a Ravens squad they know very well. A total of nine Thunderbirds who were a part of the previous four winning teams now play for the opponent.
The 'Birds advanced to the final after getting past the Castaway Wanderers out of Victoria 36-24 in last weekend's semi-final at the Gerald McGavin Rugby Centre. Meanwhile the Ravens booked their ticket to the championship by defeating Burnaby Lake 28-8 in the other semi-final.
There isn't much that separates these two teams who finished with identical 17-3 regular season records, UBC earned the top seed thanks to more bonus points for tries scored. The clubs split their two regular season meetings with the T-Birds falling to the Ravens 32-17 on September 16, 2017 while the 'Birds bounced back for a 22-5 win a couple months later on December 2, 2017.
The Thunderbirds will look to make it a fourth-consecutive BC men's rugby premier league championship to cap off what has been another sensational season. During the 2017/18 campaign the 'Birds retained both the World Cup (vs the California Golden Bears) and the Wightman Boot (vs Victoria). It also includes the T-Birds winning the inaugural Canadian University Championships (vs Victoria at the University of Guelph) and as previously mentioned, a first place finish in the BC Rugby CDI League.
