Even without time to recover from their recent trip to England for the inaugural World University Rugby Cup, it is safe to say the tournament had little impact on the Thunderbirds’ home-opener.
The UBC men’s Rugby home-opener drew a large crowd this past Saturday as the men faced off against Capilano RFC. The game was anything but disappointing as the Thunderbirds dominated the scoreboard with a 43-24 win.
“It’s an adjustment. They were playing 40 minute games [in England], these are a full 80 … to come back here and play at a domestic competition is always going to be challenging — Time to ground yourself and get to work,” said UBC’s forwards coach Curry Hitchborn
UBC was first to get on the scoreboard with two tries taking a 12-0 lead. Late in the first half, Capilano answered back by closing the scoring gap to 12-7. They then took a two point lead when they capitalized on a chip and chase finding the T-Birds’ try zone to boost the score to 14-12.
During the final minutes of the first half, the Thunderbirds drew a penalty and took advantage of the kick to retake the lead 15-14. The teams drew back to their respective benches at the half with some pushing a shoving as tensions rose amongst players.
Early in the second half Capilano fumbled the ball and Thunderbirds ran it in for a try successfully securing the two point conversion.
Minutes later, the T-Birds took advantage on a ruck and furthered the scoring gap to 27-14.
Reaching the 25 minute mark of the second half, a knock-on by the Caps resulted in a T-Bird scrum. T-Birds took advantage of the opportunity with an exceptional out to the wing which resulted in a try boosting their tally to 36.
The T-Birds then drew another penalty and maintained possession off the line out resulting in another try.
With little time remaining in the final half of the game, Capilano managed to score two tries. But it was not enough to catch up to the T-Birds who dominated the game early on. The final score was 43-24 T-Birds.
“Relentless attack, attention to detail and we took pride in the basic skills. We were lucky to come away with a win like this against a very well drove Capilano Rugby Club,” said Hitchborn
The T-Birds’ next kickoff is scheduled for 2:30pm October 17 against Burnaby Lake RC.
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