JBAA girls junior rugby teams travelled to participate in the Kamloops Sevens over the Thanksgiving Weekend and came away from the tournament with some strong results and some fantastic experiences and friendships.
Our U14 girls team played some incredible rugby, but also played against some very good teams. Every game was closely contested, we won a few and lost a few. The most memorable games were when we borrowed players from Capilano RFC and reciprocally loaned some of our players to the Caps. The girls on both teams really had a lot of fun playing together and the rugby they played together was fantastic. Kudos to Mia Taccarelli and Payton Collins our mighty U12s who battled hard all weekend with us.
Our U16 girls team went undefeated all the way to the Gold Medal Final against Strathcona Druids from Edmonton. In a close contest in tough hot conditions we were beaten by two tries, but were deserved silver medal winners. The girls also claimed victories in the tournament against arch rivals CW, Cowichan and best of all Langley!
Our U18 girls had a mixed bag of results as well, which is more of a testament to the high level of girls rugby being played across the province at the U18 level. The final day of competition saw the U18s notich up wins against United RFC and St Albert RFC from Alberta.
Thank you to all of the coaches for your time and support over the weekend. It wasn't easy to put all this together, but we maneuvered past the challenges and let the players speak for themselves on the fields. The girls enthusiasm for the sport of rugby is a real privilege to be around and this was especially evident during the viewing party we had for Canada's opening World Cup victory over Japan.
I would be remiss in mentioning how much fun the karaoke bus was on the journey to and from Kamloops Sevens (despite the fact that we almost didn't have a bus).