First they won the boot, now they’ll aim for the Cup.
After beating the Univeristy of Victoria Vikes twice during the Canadian Direct Insurance Premier League season to retain the Wightman Boot for a second straight year, UBC will aim for the Rounsefell Cup, awarded to the Premier League Provincial Champion, this Saturday in Klahanie Park, West Vancouver.
After defeating the Burnaby Lake Rugby Club 23-8 in semi finals, the Thunderbirds earned the right to battle for their first Rounsefell Cup in 50 years. This season has already been a strong showing for the young T-Birds’ who returned to the highest provincial level only this year, after winning the lower division a year ago. While UBC Rugby general manager Dave Brown and the coaching staff knew that this was a strong group of players coming into the season, reaching the finals has exceeded even the managements’ expectations.
“The goals at the start of the season were to win the Boot, then to win the World Cup trophy against the University of California, and both of those goals were accomplished,” said Brown. “The third goal was to qualify for the playoffs by finishing in the top four of the league and anything after that we thought would be an absolute bonus.”
Standing in UBC’s way is their rivals from Victoria who will present a stiff challenge to the Thunderbirds’ title aspirations. The Vikes punched their ticket to the finals with a tight 25-22 win over the Capilano Rugby Club in the semis. That win earned UVic the chance to avenge their earlier losses to UBC, this time in the biggest game of the year. UBC won the first matchup 30-19 at home on October 25th before taking down the Vikes in Victoria 23-19 in January.
“They’re a very, very good side with talent at every position,” said Brown. “We’re expecting the play to be quite open but I think we’re fairly confident having played them twice and we match them up pretty well in most areas.”
With both teams so familiar with one other, there wont be any surprises when these two teams face off on Saturday. The game will most likely come down to who can execute under the pressure of a championship match.
“I think it’s going to be a very intriguing game,” said Brown. “We both play a fairly similar style and it’s probably going to come down to the team that is more disciplined and makes the fewer errors.”