The Thunderbirds took on the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns on Thursday evening at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre, winning by a score of 60–0.
The game was supposed to be a tough match, with UBC and Lethbridge being ranked first and second, respectively, in the Canada West (CW) standings. But only three minutes into the game, rookie Adia Pye used her speed on the outside to put the ‘Birds up 5–0.
The next 20 minutes were full of back-and-forth action, with lots of kicking from both sides to move the ball around. It was Pye again on the outside who broke through the Horns’ defence to double UBC’s lead. Less than five minutes later, Savannah Bauder took the ball out wide for her own try. Just before half, Pye used her speed to break the line before offloading to Olivia Sarabura for a try on the outside. With one successful convert, the Thunderbirds led 22–0 at half.
The T-Birds have commanding line speed, both offensively and defensively, allowing them to both prevent the Pronghorns from scoring and continue to score themselves.
Sara Kaljuvee opened the scoring in the second half, diving under the posts to score after seeing a defensive gap. From there, the T-Birds dominated, scoring at least once every ten minutes.
The team’s forwards showed great strength and power in the scrums and mauls, with Rachel Smith scoring off an impressive scrum which drove from around the ten metre mark right into the end zone. Three more tries from three different ‘Birds brought the final score to 60–0.
With the win, the Thunderbirds not only stay undefeated but continue their clean-sheet streak. This is the third consecutive game where they haven’t allowed any opposing points.
“Not letting people score has been a big work-on for us and the team have really embraced that and really worked hard to stop teams scoring and so [I’m] really happy with that,” said head coach Dean Murten.
The ‘Birds will vie for first place in CW against their provincial rivals, the University of Victoria Vikes, on Saturday October 14 at Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre at 1 p.m.
“We'll just keep working hard on a few little things that we need to adjust but generally, [we’re] looking forward to that game. It's gonna be a real tough challenge for us,” said Murten.