The Thunderbirds had less than one minute left to salvage their season. Hundreds of people in the crowd — UBC and Victoria Vikes fans alike — stood up, knowing that whatever happened, one of the two teams would be bringing home the trophy seconds later.
For most of the game, it looked like that team would be the T-Birds. After all, UBC women’s rugby had led almost the entire game, jumping in front after a try in the 20th minute. Yet, in the 66th minute, when the Vikes scored a try to bring the score to 13–10 over UBC, the T-Birds knew that, without a try, their dream of winning the championship in front of the home fans would be gone.
But with no time left, Adia Pye — UBC’s leader in points this season — found space down the sideline. Mustering all the energy she had left, she outran the Vikes defence and dove into the try zone for a game-winning score. Thunderbird Stadium erupted. What felt impossible had happened.
Despite UBC heading into the game as defending national champions, they were pretty clear underdogs in this final contest. The Vikes had a perfect 9-0 record going in, and had a clear goal this season: to get revenge for losing the national championship game the previous year against UBC. And so far, they were doing a great job.
The T-Birds had not won a single game against the Vikes this season, losing all three games they played, including the Canada West final, breaking UBC’s streak of five consecutive Canada West championships. Because of this, the Vikes went into the U Sports Women’s Rugby Championship as the No. 1 seed, with UBC being demoted to sixth. This meant the ‘Birds had a much tougher draw in the tournament, having to beat Laval and Queens to get to the final — the top two teams in the most recent U Sports rankings.
But on Sunday evening, at Thunderbird Stadium, none of that mattered. The UBC women’s rugby team were crowned U Sports champions, finishing with a 15–13 win and crushing Victoria’s dreams. This was UBC’s second time in a row (and ever) winning the U Sports title, and they now join Laval as one of two teams to win back-to-back titles in the last 15 years.
“We’ve lost it to UVic three times this year … we didn’t play to our best … we’ve made some errors,” said UBC head coach Dean Murten. “We’ve felt that the three losses didn’t matter. This was the one that really mattered.”
That belief permeated the whole team. Three-time Olympian, ‘Birds wing Charity Williams, has watched the team grow immensely since their losses to UVic, even over the past few days.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. We knew that throughout this entire season, they hadn’t played us. They hadn’t played the real version of us,” she said. “We’ve played leaps and bounds during this national tournament. I knew, going into this game, this is really the first time they’ve played us — and we beat them.”
Yet, while the T-Birds felt like they had not shown their best to the Vikes, they had to first demonstrate that on the field. As the first half started, they weren’t quite where they wanted to be. Despite playing at home, there was a very vocal contingent of UVic fans — who had travelled out to Vancouver — hoping to bring the trophy home to BC’s capital city.
So, maybe it was the loud UVic audience, or maybe it was because of the strength of their attack, but at the seven minute mark, Olivia Newsome — who would be named a tournament all-star after the game — scored the first points for the visitors on a penalty kick, bringing some stress to the Thunderbirds and bringing the score 3–0 for the Vikes less than ten minutes in.
While a three-point deficit may not seem like much, between these two teams, it could be the difference between winning and losing. After all, the three games they played against each other were decided by a combined nine points, with no team scoring more than 19 points in a game. Every score mattered.
Overall, in the first few minutes of the game, there was not much of a chance to see UBC’s attack, but despite most of the game happening in UBC’s zone at this point, the ‘Birds defence was able to control the Vikes to stop them from scoring a try.
However, when UBC’s Olivia Sarabura saw an opportunity, things changed fast. Corralling a loose ball after a missed pass in the Victoria zone, she took it fast up the middle, not allowing the Vikes to stop her. Not only was she able to outrun all of her opponents, but she had time to spare, running to the middle of the try zone, easily allowing for a smooth conversion made by Brooklyn Roddham, taking the lead, 7–3.
After that, it felt like the T-Birds started to find balance, with all their set pieces working better. In the beginning, UBC was not getting much luck with their lineouts, but after Sarabura’s try, things started to click. On top of that, Newsome was handed a yellow card at the 28 minute mark for an illegal tackle against T-Birds scrum-back Piper Logan, leaving the Vikes short-handed for 10 minutes. It seemed like the Thunderbirds were starting to roll.
And they did, at least for a while. Even though the Vikes were down a player, they continued to control the ball, preventing UBC from taking advantage of the yellow card.
The ‘Birds didn’t let that missed opportunity faze them. Throughout the beginning of the second half, UBC’s attack was much stronger, coming close to a try at numerous points. While they couldn’t get a try right at the 41-minute mark, Roddham scored a penalty goal for UBC with an effortless, high, and controlled kick, raising the UBC lead to 10–3.
It didn’t last. Unfortunately, rugby is a very fast and unpredictable game in many ways. After the Roddham score, UVic’s attack pushed down the field, getting extremely close for a try. Their initial attempts were not good enough, as UBC’s strong defence stopped them — although an amazing single effort in the 47th by Victoria’s Carissa Norsten almost gave their first try, outrunning nearly half the team before Logan came up with a try-saving tackle.
But, just a few moments later, Victoria’s Ella O’Regan was able to convert off Norsten’s chance, scoring and turning the score to 10-8 with a little over 20 minutes left. In rugby, that is an eternity.
The T-Birds were not able answer on the attacks after O’Regan’s score and while their set pieces remained better than the Vikes, they couldn’t get anything on their mauls and rucks, thanks to UVic’s stout defence. As time ticked down, the game became more and more physical, with many tackles causing reactions from the entire crowd.
Feeling inspired by their score, the Vikes believed they had seized the lead when their substitute, Ivy Poetker, burst through the middle for a try in the 62nd minute. Fortunately for UBC, the referee determined that the pass had gone forward, and the play was disallowed.
In a moment of weakness from the Thunderbirds — potentially because of the near-score — O’Regan scored another try for her team, giving UVic a 13–10 lead with only five minutes remaining.
After having led for 45 minutes, it seemed like all hope was lost for UBC. The T-Birds needed to score a try, and fast. If not, the Vikes were going to avenge last year’s game.
For Murten, when he saw O’Regan break the goal line in the final moments, he thought everything was over.
“I thought … [with] 13 minutes to go, when we’re on their goal line and we’re patient, I thought, this is it. We score now, we win the game,” he said. “But no … the ball gets kicked back from the field and we end up under pressure at their [end]. I thought the game was gone then. So that was a massive momentum changer.”
But while her coach was stressed, Williams had another point of view.
“I think as a team, we had hope that we would win in the end because of how we worked and how good of a tournament we had,” she said. “But honestly, when they scored on us, I knew it wasn’t over. When I saw that we had three minutes left on the clock, I knew we would give everything we got, and the girls came through.”
The stage was ready for the thrilling conclusion, and with Murten looking extremely tense and nervous, he and his team offered everything they had until the last second. It was all worth it. The UBC defence held strong in the closing minutes, including a crucial moment when they withstood Victoria’s attack.
In order to have a chance, the T-Birds first needed to make a wonderful turnover in the 69th minute, before launching one more desperate attack — the definition of an all-or-nothing moment.
Then, in the 70th minute of a phenomenal and electrifying game, the home crowd went into a frenzy as Pye bee-lined down the left flank towards the corner flag as time ran out.
After a very emotional game, with the victory secure, the T-Birds were finally able to let their guard down and enjoy the moment.
The Thunderbird fans were cheering for every single player from both teams, but when UBC was finally crowned as national champions — the cheers had never been so loud.
Not only did the team win, but Teya Ashworth, Kiki Idowu, Tia Jordo, Roddham and Williams were chosen for the tournament all-star team, with Williams also receiving the championship MVP award.
While Murten and the team will celebrate the win for now, it’s easy to look ahead — at a potential three-peat.
“We’ll actually be a better team next year, I think,” said Murten. “We’ve got some fantastic players to come back from injury. You know, going for a three-peat is something that we’ll start looking at pretty soon. So I don’t think you’ve just seen it there. I’m the guy that’s got the nerves. They seem to be quite relaxed now there. So all credit to them."
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