VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds are getting set to play host to the second of three Canada West Rugby 7 Sevens Series tournaments this weekend beginning Friday mid-morning, February 9 through Saturday, February 10^th at Thunderbird Stadium.
 
The T-Birds will welcome five Canada West rivals to the Point Grey Campus, including the Victoria Vikes, Alberta Pandas, Calgary Dinos, Lethbridge Pronghorns and Trinity Western Spartans.
 
We are extremely excited to host this event and play at home," said UBC coach Darcy Patterson. "It will be fantastic to have the elementary school kids in the stands creating a fun environment on Day 1 and we're hoping to feed of their energy to ensure we give them a good show. 
 
The tournament will be a round-robin format, with the winner decided by the best win-loss record. Play kicks off on Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. from Thunderbird Stadium with UVic meeting Calgary, followed by UBC taking on TWU at 10:22 a.m. Round one wraps up with Alberta against Lethbridge at 10:44 a.m. before an hour break ahead of afternoon round two and three sessions.
 

DAY 1 - Friday Feb 9th
Rd #1	10:00	UVic	v	U of C
	10:22	UBC	v	TWU
	10:44	U of A	v	Lethbridge
Rd #2	12:20	UVic	v	TWU
	12:42	UBC	v	Lethbridge
	1:04	U of A	v	U of C
Rd #3	2:40	Lethbridge	v	TWU
	3:02	UBC	v	U of C
	3:24	UVic	v	U of A
DAY 2 - Saturday Feb 10th
Rd #4	9:45	U of C	v	TWU
	10:07	UVic	v	Lethbridge
	10:30	UBC	v	U of A
Rd #5	12:30	U of C	v	Lethbridge
	12:52	U of A	v	TWU
	1:14	UVic	v	UBC

 
 
The 'Birds entered the 2024, 7s circuit as the defending Canada West Rugby 7s champions, claiming the title for the first time in the programs history last March after enjoying a perfect 15-0 record and lifting the banner on home field as the three-stop series wrapped up at T-Bird Stadium.
 
In 2023, UBC managed to interrupt the four-consecutive titles won by dominant UVic program but the Vikes responded this season by snapping the T-Birds 18-game winning streak, thanks to a 28-10, day two victory to claim top spot at the first stop of the CW Rugby 7s series late last month in Edmonton. With that, UBC enters this weekend's action occupying second place with a 3-1 record and eight points, two back of first place Victoria who sits at 4-0.
 
In their last meeting the Vikes were able to jump out to a 28-0 halftime lead over the 'Birds to put the game out of reach early and with that result fresh in their minds the hosts are well aware of which areas of their game need to improve.
 
"7s is always a challenge, anything can happen," explained Patterson. "We recognized our defence was not where it needs to be to pursue our goal of CanWest Champions. All the credit to UVic and they were able to slice through us in the final with their dialed kick offs and great support play. We are really excited to show our desire on D and also build off our ability to score tries. We scored 40+ points in every game except the final and look forward to continuing in that area of the game." 
 
FINAL TOURNAMENT 1 STANDINGS
 

	TEAM	W	L	POINTS
1	Victoria	4	0	10
2	UBC	3	1	8
3	Alberta	1	3	6
4	Calgary	1	3	4
5	Lethbridge	1	3	2

Point System: 1st Place - 10 points / 2nd Place - 8 points / 3rd Place - 6 points / 4th Place - 4 points / 5th Place - 2 points


 
Coming out of the opening tournament where each team played four games it was UVic that enjoyed an efficient point differential of 114 points for compared to a stingy 15 points against while UBC scored 136 points while allowing 40 points. The T-Birds saw two players named to the Alberta tournament Dream Team in Kiki Idowu and Sarah Kaljuvee. Idowu scored four tries over the course of the weekend while Kaljuvee added three tries and another six points on successful conversions. Meanwhile the Vikes had a couple unanimous selections in Lucie Romero and Maggie Mackinnon, Romero counted seven tries while Mackinnon tallied three tries and another 11 points on conversions through four matches. Other standouts for UBC include Adia Pye and Savannah Bauder scoring four tries each in Edmonton.
 
All involved are looking forward to an intense and entertaining weekend of competition in a tournament that sees several games played in a condensed time frame.
 
"7s is about being able to build and feed off momentum and starving the other team of it," added Patterson. "Being able to let things go and focus on the next thing quickly is important. Recovery and refuel is also integral to being able to prep for the next game. 14 minutes seems short but it takes it out of you."
 
This weekend marks the fifth time UBC will play host to the Canada West Rugby Seven Series and it will all be available for viewing via live stream on Canada West TV.