The Cowichan Rugby Football Club sent four teams to the provincial rugby sevens championships in Kamloops earlier this month.
A total of 40 girls ranging in age from 12-18 represented the club in the U14, U16 Elite, U16 Open and U19 Open divisions. Each team played five games over a course of two days.
“It’s such a great experience for these ladies,” said coach Sherry Spence, who led the Cowichan delegation. “There are teams from all over B.C. at this event, in total 60 teams, the majority female teams.”
The Cowichan U14 team placed seventh.
“These girls really came together by the end of the weekend,” Spence commented. “We have a young squad and they learned a lot.”
The U16 Open team ended the tournament in 13th spot, but played their best rugby in their last match. The U16 Elite side played for bronze against a Celtic Barbarians team they had defeated 12-7 earlier the same day, but ended up losing the third-place game in the final seconds, settling for fourth.
Cowichan’s U19s ended their tournament with their best game of the weekend, beating Kamloops 32-7 to turn the tables on a team that defeated them in pool play.
The Cowichan girls teams will now move onto XVs for the next six weeks, with the goal of reaching the provincial finals, which will be held at Piggy Park on Dec. 2.