Usually the big kickoff for the high school girls rugby season, last weekend's Joe McGeachy Memorial Rugby Tournament was cancelled due to the weather, but that didn't prevent the Cowichan Secondary School Thunderbirds from getting in a pair of games against Alberni District.
Both A and B games ended in lopsided victories for the T-Birds.
In the A game, the defending provincial champions from Cowichan crushed Alberni 56-0. Sara Lowes finished the game with five tries, Darien Hobday had two, Adrienne Saari, Shania Pronk and Gillian Torok-Both had one each, and Alison Franks kicked three conversions. Cowichan won the B game 21-0 on a try and two conversions by Emily Lindsay, two more tries by Denise Roy, and a conversion by Maddie Pirie.
"I was impressed with the seniors' knowledge of the game plan and ability to transfer concepts that we have practiced into a real game," Cowichan coach Brad Skene said.
"The juniors were a lot of fun to watch. They are very athletic but it is always interesting to watch how the new kids do with contact and they looked very confident at tackle points. We have a lot of work to do but this was a great start for the program."