VANCOUVER – The Laval Rouge et Or may have come into the tournament undefeated, but the UBC Thunderbirds did not let that faze them as they fought their way to a 32-10 victory to close out the first round of the 2025 CGIS U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship Presented by Rec Room.
The scoring was a little slow to get going, but by the 30-minute mark the T-Birds were up by double digits and never looked back from there as they led wire-to-wire.
"I think the girls were a little bit rusty at the start, a little bit of nerves. Laval is a very good team," remarked UBC head coach
Dean Murten. "Once we got a few scores I thought we looked a little more relaxed then."
The Thunderbirds had a nice mix of experience in terms of their scorers, with second-year
Brooklyn Roddham making key kicks and rookie
Jaime Dickson scoring the final try, while veterans
Tia Jordo,
Piper Logan and
Charity Williams made their mark as well.
"It's good to see that, that means we're going in the right direction long-term," said Murten when asked about the scoring balance. "Brooke today was absolutely fantastic, a second-year playing in that position against a great team. She would have gotten my vote for player of the game because she was outstanding. So yeah, it's good to see the younger players scoring."
Roddham was entrusted with a key play at the beginning of the game, a penalty kick from 37 yards out. Unfazed by the distance and pressure, she drilled the ball through the middle of the uprights with plenty of height to spare to open the scoring.
There were a lot of penalties in general in the early going, with neither team able to establish a real offensive rhythm. That finally changed in the 24th minute, following a great run forward by
Olivia Sarabura that got the ball within the Laval 10-yard line.
After they were unable to punch it in on the left flank, the T-Birds swung it out to Williams on the other side. She sucked in a couple defenders before dishing it at the right time to Jordo who sprinted in for the score.
Jordo then did it again just a few minutes later, in a perfect instance of right place, right time. After
Lana Dueck burst through the middle, she tried to find a teammate but her throw landed on the ground. However, the ball bounced perfectly up in the air for Jordo to swoop in and grab it without breaking stride, taking it to the house to make it 13-0.
Laval got themselves on the board in the 32nd with a penalty kick of their own from Anne Lamothe. Lamothe then had another kick from about the same spot on the final play before halftime, but just barely missed it wide right to send the two teams into the break with a score of 13-3.
UBC stretched their lead out further in the 46th, as after some goalmouth pressure they pushed the ball out wide to Logan. The T-Birds captain faked a pass of her own, only to instead cut inside past the defence for the try.
The Rouge et Or did get one back with a little under 20 minutes to go, with Camille Arvin-Bérod punching in a try to make it a two-score game once again, but that was as close as the RSEQ champs would get.
Williams put together one of the highlights of the night with a great solo effort, taking a pass from Roddham on the outside and cutting her way back through the centre of the pitch, juking out the last defender and somersaulting her way into the try zone. She was named the U SPORTS Nike Player of the Game for UBC after the final whistle blew.
Before that though, Dickson put the exclamation point on the contest with her score down the right sideline, sending the boisterous Thunderbird Stadium crowd into jubilant celebration.
While the T-Birds will certainly be thrilled with the result, things don't get any easier in the semifinal round. UBC will face off against Queen's, the unbeaten OUA champs who laid a 90-10 beatdown on Acadia in their own quarterfinal.
"It's going to be tough again, Queen's are outstanding," mused Murten. "One thing we said at the start of the tournament is that we're going the hard way – Laval are very good, Queen's outstanding, it's going to take a lot out of us but we have to be ready for it. If you want to win you need to win all three games."
The T-Birds and Gaels will do battle at 6:30 p.m. (PT) on Friday, October 31, at Thunderbird Stadium.
SCORING SUMMARY
1 2 F
LAV 3 7 10
UBC 13 19 32
4' – UBC penalty kick (
Brooklyn Roddham) 3-0 UBC
24' – UBC try –
Tia Jordo (Roddham convert missed) 8-0 UBC
28' – UBC try –
Tia Jordo (Roddham convert missed) 13-0 UBC
32' – LAV penalty kick (Anne Lamothe) 13-3 UBC
HALF
46' – UBC try –
Piper Logan (Roddham convert) 20-3 UBC
52' – LAV try – Camille Arvin-Bérod (Lamothe convert) 20-10 UBC
60' – UBC try –
Charity Williams (Roddham convert) 27-10 UBC
65' – UBC try –
Jaime Dickson (Roddham convert missed) 32-10 UBC
