Timing is everything.
Following a pair of stepping stone performances the Foothills Lions saved their best for last in thumping their way to a 40-0 triumph to win the U15 Girls Rugby Sevens Provincial Championship Saturday at the Calgary Rugby Park.
“We got a couple trys right of the bat and got the momentum and they couldn’t really stop it,” said Lions coach Jim Ryan. “I told all the girls it was fitting that our best game of the season was our gold medal game.
“We played fantastic and I don’t think anyone would have stopped us the way we played.”
Foothills struck early and often to firmly put the pressure on the Druids/Clan – a combined team of athletes from Sherwood Park and Edmonton in the final.
Brogan Mior opened the scoring with a solo effort down the middle of the pitch after the Lions won their own try. On the ensuing kick-off, Foothills kicked deep and executed flawlessly off a line-out before touching the ball down.
Seconds later the Lions found themselves up by 19 points as Mior swiftly picked up a loose ball and coasted down the sideline for yet another major before half.
“It definitely boosted our confidence,” Mior said of the strong start. “We just kept scoring and scoring after that.
“It was really executing what Jim taught us and doing our system, passing and running.”
Following a brief pushback from the Druids immediately following the restart the resident Foothills speedster put her mark on the gold medal triumph.
Blackie’s Carmen Izyk went off for three majors in the second half, the first two on outside runs the length of the field before capping off the hat-trick on a dynamite inside scamper, to complete the 40-plus point scoreline and put a firm stamp on the championship.
“It was (about) not playing to their game,” said the Lions’ Jasmine Leslie. “They and some of the other teams play clumped and sometimes you tend to do what the other players do.
“Jim always reminds us to play our game, to not let the other team influence how we play.”
Mission accomplished.
The Lions went undefeated in the sevens tournament, posting a perfect record of 4-0 including a pair of wins over the Druids to go along with victories over the Calgary Hornets and the Edmonton Nor’westers.
The gold medal marks the fourth trip to the podium this season for a number of the Lions.
Foothills went south to roll sevens and end up with bronze at a Las Vegas tournament in the spring before winning the Stampede Sevens tournament earlier this month and following it up with a silver medal performance at last week’s Alberta Summer Games.
“This is, for a bunch of young girls, a pretty veteran group. A lot of them have gone to Vegas, played in the Alberta Games,” Ryan said. “We always said the only team that could beat us was us. As long as we execute in attack and defence no one was going to beat us.”
Everything led up to this point for Foothills.
“We were all pumped. We love working together, I honestly love this team to death and consider them family,” Leslie said. “The fact we all know how each other plays just helps so much plus our coach (Jim Ryan) is so amazing.”
