VANCOUVER - The Calgary Dinos won the battle between the top two ranked Canada West squads, as they defeated the UBC Thunderbirds 22-14 on a glorious afternoon at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre.
UBC edged out the three-time defending Canada West champion Dinos as the conference favourite in the annual preseason coaches poll, but it was Calgary who came out on top to open the season. The T-Birds jumped out to a quick start and led 14-0 before the Dinos scored 22 unanswered points to earn a hard-fought victory to start the regular season on the road.
"Calgary brought everything that we knew they would," said UBC head coach Dean Murten. "We started well with 14 points up on the board but that's not enough against Calgary. They're a strong team and they came back by dominating the ball in the second half, we couldn't get the ball back and they managed the game better than us."
T-Bird captain
Madison Gold burst across the try line to open the scoring in the fourth minute and Soshanah Seumanutafa's first convert of the season was good to give the 'Birds an early 7-0 lead. Fifth-year UBC veteran, and Canadian Senior National team member,
Gillian Boag dashed into the try zone in the 27th minute and Seumanutafa's second convert of the match was good to make it 14-0. The Dinos responded in the 35th minute, as Cassidy Jones got Calgary on the board to make it 14-5 at halftime.
Calgary continued to pour on the pressure to start the second half and were rewarded in the 53rd minute when fifth-year wing Samantha May flew across the try line to make it 14-10. Emma Feldinger was forced to leave the game for the 'Birds in the 59th minute, and just two minutes later Cassidy Jones once again battled her way into the try zone to give the Dinos their first lead at 15-14. Paige Miller extended the lead on a massive run from half for the try and Calgary converted in the 72nd minute to solidify the victory.
Dinos head coach Simon Chi credited a big part of the second half surge to some key contributions from the bench.
"We picked up a few depth pieces on the bench this season...we brought them in, they were expected to bring the energy and they did," said Chi. "We're early in our season and I know they just came off tour, but they looked sharp. We knew we were in for a battle after the first half. We just asked our girls to dig deep and grind one out. You don't get style points for the way we played but at the end of the day we got the result and we'll take that."
The Thunderbirds look to bounce back on the road when they visit the University of Victoria Vikes next Sunday at 1:00 p.m. PT, while Calgary heads straight to the island to face the Vikes this Sunday at 12:30 p.m. MT.
CGY 5-17 -- 22
UBC 14-0 -- 14
SCORING SUMMARY
First half
4' – UBC TRY – Madison Gold (Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert) – UBC 7-0
27' – UBC TRY – Gillian Boag (Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert) – UBC 14-0
35' – Calgary TRY – Cassidy Janes (convert missed) – UBC 14-5
Second half
53' – Calgary TRY – Samantha May (convert missed) – UBC 14-10
62' – Calgary TRY – Cassidy Jones (convert missed) – CGY 15-14
72' – Calgary TRY – Paige Miller (Isla Shill convert) – CGY 22-14
