Burnaby North travelled to the Lucas Centre in North Vancouver to take on reigning the provincial AAA girls' rugby champion Carson Graham, and came away on the wrong side of a 51-5 scoreline.
Despite the lopsided score, head coach Ian Trevor was decidedly upbeat.
"This was our first league game of the season and Carson has an established program, winning the provincial championships for the past four or five years straight," said Trevor. "(Carson) had also just come back from a tour of California, so from a result standpoint, I was expecting a one-sided score."
What Trevor was happy to see from the North girls was a willingness to compete and a steady improvement in their breakdown defence as the game wore on, he added.
"Every team needs to learn and game time is often the best teacher."
North had strong performances in the forwards from Shelby Mattin and Tess Woldring, but forward of the match was Megan Twist, who scored North's lone try from a tap penalty five metres out from the Carson goal.
The backs had their moments as well as Ruby Moore-Kalia and Kyra Groll had strong games at scrumhalf and fly half, respectively. The back of the match award went to winger Julia Kelly, who punched well above her weight, tackling several of the larger Carson Graham forwards, while having her share of time running with the ball as well.
Team captain Malak Dalati was pleased with the effort. "Once we got over the fact that we were playing the provincial champions, we got a lot better and had our chances. We made mistakes and Carson took advantage of them because that's what good teams do," Dalati said.
Now in its fourth year, head coach Ian Trevor is pleased with the commitment and improvement the North team is showing.
"We had 50 girls sign up at the start and we now have 27 on the roster that are committed and working hard to improve. As a coach that's all you can ask for. Hopefully, as we focus on our process, we will have some results go our way this year as well," Trevors said.
Burnaby North's next home game is against Windsor Secondary at Burnaby Lake-East Field 7 on Monday, April 8. Kick-off is at 4 p.m.
