VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (0-1) are back in action this weekend, facing off against the University of Calgary Dinos (0-2) at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 19 in a home-opening matchup.

Marking the second bout of this year's five-game Canada West calendar, the T-Birds are eager to respond after kicking off this campaign with a loss across the pond, falling 43-25 to the University of Victoria Vikes.

"UVic's obviously a very, very good, strong physical team with some new senior players, but we weren't at our best. As we know, it's a bit of a slow burn and not a sprint, so you have to be peaking at the right time," began UBC head coach Dean Murten. "One of the factors is that we've lost some key players. We've got some younger ones coming through, and some of our decision-making wasn't good enough, and more importantly, some of our contact skills weren't good enough."



This week, the 'Birds will look to seize their first win of the year while coming off a fortnight of rest due to an early bye week.

"[The bye week] gives us more time to check in with where we're at, and it's also allowed us to get a few people back on the field, which has been the positive side of it. It gives us a check-in point: 'Where are we at physically?' That's one area of the game that we've certainly got to get better at – physicality. It's a collision sport; we have to defend better, and we have to stay focused for short periods of time. Generally, in a game of rugby, you're going for two to three minutes at your maximum; you cannot allow yourself to switch off, and it's an area that we need to be focused on going forward."



The good news is, the 'Birds have been here before.  

UBC faced a similar fate in the season opener last year – with a 19-15 loss at the hands of UVic. From there, the Vikes continued to have the T-Birds' number throughout, winning both regular-season matchups before adding another in the Canada West final.

However, the 'Birds dramatically secured revenge in the U SPORTS finale, as the top two ranked teams in the nation went toe-to-toe for the National Championship and, thanks to late-game heroics from Adia Pye, the 'Birds won 15-13 on a last-second try from the now fourth-year wing and claimed back-to-back titles on the national stage.



Not to be swayed by the early loss, history tells us the road to a three-peat is still in sight for the T-Birds. After falling in last season's opener, the blue and gold followed with a commanding win over the Dinos in Calgary.

Historically, the Birds enter this contest on an eight-game winning streak against their Western Canada counterpart, with UBC winning all of those games by double-digit margins. Yet, as it seems UBC has dominated the matchup, they have only had the upper hand on Calgary in recent years, as the 'Birds have an all-time record of 11-9 against the program.



Despite the success against the Dinos from various T-Bird rosters in years past, coach Murten is simply looking at what he has seen from the small sample size of this year's squad.

"I've been going through that Uvic game: 'Can we make better decisions? Can we be on a little bit longer and not drift in and out of the game?' Especially from my standpoint, my coaching focus is: 'Can we dominate collisions? Can we get a quick ball through dominance?' Then, if we're connected and we're on, good things will come from it."

The 'Birds will look to build towards success this weekend and see if Murten's squad can capitalize on those gameplay changes against the Dinos. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. on September 19 at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre. You can keep up with the action on CanadaWest.tv.