The Cowichan Rugby Football Club’s senior women’s side earned its first win of the fall season last Saturday, defeating Castaway Wanderers 37-33 in Oak Bay.
“Our team goals for this game were line speed in defence — coming up fast on defence therefore putting pressure on their attack and decision making — and speed in our attack,” Cowichan coach Marlene Donaldson commented. “We excelled at both those goals consistently throughout the game.”
Cowichan held a substantial lead for most of the first half, but a series of defensive lapses shortly after halftime allowed Castaways to get back in the game. Cowichan trailed by a single point late in the second half, but rallied to regain the lead with about five minutes left and held on from there.
Carolyn Gudmundseth scored the go-ahead try, taking a pass from Tyson Beukeboom and running up the middle for her third score of the day. Hannah McKevitt and Miranda Sample each had two tries, and Beukeboom slotted one conversion.
A week earlier, Cowichan was defeated 43-7 by the Nanaimo Hornets in Nanaimo, getting their lone try from Chelsea Strandlund with a conversion from Beukeboom.
“This game was played in rainfall and we didn’t perform well in these conditions,” Donaldson said. “We did not adapt well. We made several unforced errors and did not protect our ball in contact.”
Cowichan will play host to Castaways this Saturday at 11:15 a.m. in the first half of a doubleheader with the senior men’s team, who kick off at 1 p.m.