After a successful first outing in Edmonton five weeks ago, the UBC Thunderbirds enter the second stage of the Canada West Rugby 7s season 5-0 and in first place in the conference standings. After a snowfall caused the postponement of February's planned matches in Langley, the second tournament of the season will be in Victoria on the Saturday and Sunday of March 1st and 2nd.
 
The T-Birds outscored their opponents 156-22 overall over their five matches in January, winning the first four comfortably before managing a more narrow 12-5 victory over archrivals UVic.
 
"Edmonton was an awesome display of what this group can achieve," said Thunderbirds head coach Darcy Patterson. "It was extremely exciting to see how well this young group played as a team and individually."
 

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 Heading into the next round of fixtures, it's not the Vikes but rather the Trinity Western Spartans who are the closest team to UBC. The Spartans upset UVic in their first match of the campaign, and the Langley outfit already has more points than they did in the entirety of last season, showing a marked improvement. 
 
The T-Birds, however, remain the squad to beat. Their powerful top-end talent was shown by three Thunderbirds making the seven-player "Dream Team" from the first tournament, with Kiki Idowu, Tia Jordo and Adia Pye all earning the nod.
 
Pye, for her efforts, was named the Canada West Player of the Week. The second-year athlete showed just how deadly her speed can be in the more open 7s gameplay by scoring an impressive eight tries in the first five matches. 
 

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 "Adia has world class finishing abilities, it's hard to know what she will do when she gets the ball in her hands but it will likely finish with a try," added Patterson. "She has been working hard to have an impact on both sides of the ball and that shows. Kiki was an incredible power finisher notching six tries. Tia was a leader on and off the field coming up with some try-saving tackles and important tries."
 
"Lana Dueck was a leader with playmaking," she continued. "Skye Farish and Brooklyn Roddham were very good in their first tournaments with the program, showing their evasiveness and turn of pace. Almost everyone has stood out in their own way!"
 
The T-Birds will once again play five matches in two days this weekend, playing three on the Saturday and two on the Sunday. They close the first day of the competition with a battle against the Vikes at 4:29 p.m. (PT), before ending the tournament against the Spartans at 2:29 p.m. (PT) on Sunday.
 
As the two-time defending champs and the team currently in first place to begin this season, the T-Birds know they will get each team's best shot, and relish in that challenge.
 
"It was a goal of ours to be in this position and now it will be fun working towards maintaining it and elevating our abilities as a team and individuals," said Patterson. "The other teams are good and in 7s anything can happen so all we can do is continue to prepare and work with the momentum we created."
 
You can watch every Canada West Rugby 7s match live and on demand on Canada West TV.