VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds are getting set to play host to the second stop of the 2020 Canada West Women's Rugby Seven Series this coming weekend Saturday, January 31 and Sunday, February 1 on the Point Grey campus.
The T-Birds enter action holding down fourth place in the eight-team tournament following the opening event of the season two weeks ago in Edmonton hosted by the Alberta Pandas. The 'Birds will welcome seven teams, listed in order of the current standings beginning with the first place UVic Vikes and followed by the Alberta Pandas, Lethbridge Pronghorns, Calgary Dinos, Trinity Western Spartans, Fraser Valley Cascades and the UBC Okanagan Heat.
The Tournament will be a round-robin format, with the winner decided by the best win-loss record. Play kicks off at 10:12 a.m. on Saturday at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre with UVic taking on UBCO followed by UBC meeting Calgary at 10:34 a.m. while on Sunday play shifts across the street to UBC Thunderbird stadium and a 9:50 a.m. PT start time.
A full schedule of Canada West matches along with links to watch the action via live stream on Youtube (scroll to bottom of page) can be found here:
http://bit.ly/T-BirdsRugby
"It's exciting to host for the second consecutive year at our great campus," said UBC head coach
Dean Murten. "The players are working hard to build on our 2019 tournament which was executed very well."
Two weeks ago in Edmonton the T-Birds opened the season with a 3-0 record on day one at Foote Field. That put them into a semifinal matchup against the Alberta Pandas on the morning of day two. The hosts scored a 22-10 win over UBC, after leading 10-5 at the half.
In the third-place contest, Lethbridge earned a 15-12 win over the T-Birds. A back-and-forth affair saw UBC go up 12-10 in the second half on a
Jordan McLeod try, that she converted herself, before the Pronghorns replied with the game-winning score.
Murten added his takeaways from the opening tournament and what he needs to see from his squad this weekend to enjoy success:
"A big credit goes to the Alberta teams; the U of A tournament was a big improvement in the quality of play from previous years. We need to play with more urgency, when we don't have the ball, we need to work harder to get it back."
The 'Birds finished 3-2 by the conclusion of the opening weekend, earning eight points which placed them in fourth place in the standings heading into this weekend's second stop on the circuit. UVic enters in first place with 15 points thanks to a 5-0 record during the debut weekend, followed by Alberta (4-1) 12 points, Lethbridge (3-2) 10 points, UBC, Calgary (3-2) 6 points, TWU (1-4) 4 points, UFV (2-3) 2 points, and rounded out by UBCO (0-5) 1 point.
This weekend marks the second time UBC will play host to the Canada West Women's Rugby Sevens Series and it will be available for viewing via live stream.
Tournament Standings after opening event
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
TIES |
POINTS |
| VIC |
5 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
| ALB |
4 |
1 |
0 |
12 |
| LET |
3 |
2 |
0 |
10 |
| UBC |
3 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
| CGY |
3 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
| TWU |
1 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
| UFV |
2 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
| UBCO |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
NOTES: Teams are awarded 15 points for a tournament win, 12 points for finishing 2nd, 10 points for finishing third, 8 points for finishing fourth, 6 points for finishing fifth, 4 point for finishing sixth, 2 points for finishing seventh, and 1 point for finishing eighth.
