The University of British Columbia Rugby Club

The Braves and the Totems took a three day road trip to Cheney Washington and Moscow Idaho to play the University of Idaho and Eastern Washington University. Our Saturday game saw the Braves and the Totems take on the “Eagles” at Roos Stadium. I believe this was a “first” for UBC to actually play at Eastern but also a first to play on their Red turf playing surface….yes…Red. We played on the football field which measured 55 yards by 100 yards with the game being somewhat confrontational. When you take away 36% of a regulation rugby field there happens to be a significant lack of space to deal with and a significant increase in contact. It took about 40 minutes for the freshmen ( most of the Braves are frosh players) to wear Eastern down as we went into the half with a 17-0 score line thanks to tries from Angus McWhirter(United World College of SEA), Liam Murphy-Burke ( Semiahmoo) and Alex Mascott (St. George’s) along with one conversion from Murphy-Burke. The second half had Daniel Barrends (Collingwood) and Dane Peterson (Kelowna) cross the line twice while Cam Graham (Merritt) added one. Murphy Burke was good on four from five conversions to finish with a 50-0 result. Without question there were some sore bodies after the match.

The Totems were up next and put up a 41-0 result with Malcolm Brodie (Collinwood), Dane Peterson (yes, he had to play two games) and Adrian Semmelink (Kelowna..he played two games as well) scoring two tries a piece with Brian Murphy (Charles Tupper) adding a single try. Two conversions by Cam Graham and a single conversion by Gavin Stephens (Brentwood) rounded out the scoring.

The Eastern Washington guys did a great job hosting us after the game with some pizza and refreshments in the basement of their clubhouse which eerily resembled the “Pulp Fiction” basement. After acknowledgements and thanks we were back on the bus a heading to Moscow Idaho, the home of the “Vandals”.

Our Sunday game, due to field closures, was moved to Lewiston Idaho, about 45 minutes south of Moscow. We once again played on a 55 yard wide field. The University of Idaho were a physical bunch of players but they were relatively new to the game which quickly turned one sided and ended early with a 57-7 result.

 

UBC will take on The University of California, Berkeley this coming Sunday, March 25^th. Kickoff is 12:00 noon in Thunderbird Stadium. Only one point separates the two teams going into this second match so a 2 point victory for UBC would bring back the World Cup which has been residing in California since 2006. “Bring back the cup Birds”