Report by Canada West

UBC Thunderbirds won its first ever Women’s Rugby 7s Canada West banner to complete a perfect 15-0 season in style.

With championship victory, the Thunderbirds ended a four-year dominance by the University of Victoria Vikes as the three-stop series wrapped up at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver on Sunday.

WRUG | @UBCWRugby 7s Head Coach Darcy Patterson speaks after her team capped a 15-0 season with their first ever @CanadaWest championship banner!#GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/zfAQOuOcwc

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) March 4, 2023

“We talked about the importance of winning the tournament outright. It was incredible to see us go 15-0 and to win this tournament at home is extra special. I also want to congratulate all of the teams who competed this year. We all got better as the season went on.” UBC Thunderbirds Rugby 7s head coach Darcy Patterson

After previous tournament wins in Edmonton and Victoria, the Thunderbirds were made to work hard for their third title triumph, coming from behind to secure a 17-7 victory over Victoria on home turf in the final game of the weekend. Savannah Bauder’s go-ahead try for the hosts in the second half saw UBC take the lead for the first time in the title match and they added a late Kally King try to see their historic win, with Vikes taking the silver medals.

UBC had reached the tournament title game earlier that morning with a 34-5 win over Calgary Dinos, with Victoria reaching the final match up following a 31-0 victory over Alberta Pandas.

Calgary claimed a third-placed finish with a strong showing in a 19-5 win over their Provincial rivals, the Alberta Pandas.

The day had started off with the two consolation semi-finals, with Lethbridge Pronghorns seeing off UBC2 (Thunder) 43-5 and Trinity Western Spartans blanking Regina Cougars 37-0. The two winners advanced to the 5^th placed game, and it was Lethbridge who took the honours with a commanding 24-0 victory over TWU. UBC2 (Thunder) and Regina met in the 7^th-placed game, with the home side triumphing 48-0.

WRUG | Congratulations to @UBCWRugby who defeat @uvicvikes 17-7 in the @CanadaWest UBC women’s rugby 7s tournament title game.

With the win in the 3rd & final series stop, on cumulative points the T-Birds capture their 1st ever @CanadaWest rugby 7s championship banner! pic.twitter.com/I6mutiWskJ

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) March 4, 2023

UBC’s Shoshanah Seumanutafa and Victoria’s Kira Peary finished the weekend as joint tournament points leaders, with their tally of four tries and 11 conversions giving them 42 points over the two days.  Victoria’s Carissa Norsten was the tournament’s try leader, going over the line seven times.

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