Photo credit Yan Doublet

QUEBEC CITY (CIS) – The Alberta Pandas showed why they ended the conference playoffs as the top-ranked team in the nation in their opening match of the CIS women’s rugby championship on Friday afternoon, easily defeating the tournament host Laval Rouge et Or by a score of 56-10 at TELUS-UL Stadium.

The Pandas (1-0), who claimed CIS bronze a year ago, assured themselves of playing for a medal on Sunday. The colour will depend on the outcome of their second and last Pool B match Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against Queen’s (1-0), a contest which will determine first place in the group.

Alberta is the most decorated program in CIS rugby history with five Monilex Trophy triumphs since the inaugural national university championship in 1998 but hasn’t tasted gold since 2003.

Laval (0-2) will play StFX (0-2) Sunday at 10 a.m. for fifth place. The Rouge et Or never finished higher than third in four previous appearances at the championship, claiming bronze in 2011.

“Obviously, I’m delighted to get a great win in our first game,” said Pandas head coach Matt Parish. “We sort of figured that Laval would come out pretty strong, having lost that close game yesterday. We started really well and that just took their wind out of them. I’m really pleased with the way we played.”

On the losing side, bench boss Bill McNeil was not overly disappointed. “I liked our spirit at the end. We didn’t give up, we stopped looking at the scoreboard after the first half. We played all the girls we wanted and that’s a big investment, because some of those girls never played in a Canadian championship. We had the opportunity to play against the best team, so we should learn from that game.”

Click here to hear complete comments from both head coaches.

The Pandas were on fire from the get go, scoring two tries in the first 10 minutes of the game. Julia Goss of Edmonton started things off with a try in the second minute and Ashley Samson of Ottawa added another seven minutes later to give Alberta an early 10-0 lead.

The Rouge et Or had no answer for the Canada West champions’ strike force. Chelsea Guthrie of Edmonton exploded out of a scrum, beating her opponents and flattening the ball into Laval’s in-goal area at the 17-minute mark to make it 15-0.

The Albertan steamroller wasn’t done. Alanna Fittes of Rimbey, Alta., scored two consecutive tries in the 31st and 34th minutes, one of them converted by Rebecca Fairbaim of Edmonton. Goss rounded out the first-half scoring in the 35th minute with her second try of the afternoon to give the Pandas a comfortable 34-0 advantage at the break.

Things did not improve in the second half for the host team as the Pandas scored three more tries in the first eight minutes of the period. Fittes continued her good work with two more scores, her third and fourth of the game, while Guthrie added her second try of the match.

With the score now 51-0, Myriam Roger of Quebec City saved Laval’s honour with a penalty kick on the 53rd minute.
Miranda Monty of Edmonton added another try in the 58th minute for Alberta. The Rouge et Or finally gave the home crowd something to celebrate when Sarah Boudreau Turpin of Quebec City scored Laval’s lone try in the 65th minute, following good physical work in the scrum.

Guthrie, a senior scrum half, was named player of the game for the Pandas. For Laval, the contribution of third row player Kathleen Keller of Quebec City was recognized.

SCORING SUMMARY

ALB 34-22: 56
LAV 0-10: 10

First half
ALB – Julia Goss try 2nd (ALB 5 – LAV 0)
ALB – Ashley Amson try 9th (ALB 10 – LAV 0)
ALB – Chelsea Guthrie try 17th (ALB 15 – LAV 0)
ALB – Alanna Fittes try (Rebecca Fairbairn convert) 31st (ALB 22 – LAV 0)
ALB – Alanna Fittes try 34th (ALB 27 – LAV 0)
ALB – Julia Goss try (Rebecca Fairbairn convert) 35th (ALB 34 – LAV 0)

Second half
ALB – Alanna Fittes try 38th (ALB 39 – LAV 0)
ALB – Chelsea Guthrie try 41st (ALB 44 – LAV 0)
ALB – Alanna Fittes try (Rebecca Fairbairn convert) 43rd (ALB 51 – LAV 0)
LAV – Myriam Roger penalty kick 53rd (ALB 51 – LAV 3)
ALB – Miranda Monty try 58th (ALB 56 – LAV 3)
LAV – Sarah Boudreau-Turpin try (Myriam Roger convert) 65th (ALB 56 – LAV 10)

Players of the game
ALB: Chelsea Guthrie (Edmonton, Alta.)
LAV: Kathleen Keller (Quebec City, Que.)

Legend:
Try: 5 points
Penalty goal: 3 points
Convert: 2 points

POOL STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Pool A preliminary round

GP W L T PF PA PTS
1. Guelph 1 1 0 0 37 12 5
2. McGill 1 1 0 0 19 10 4
3. StFX 2 0 2 0 22 56 0

Pool B preliminary round

GP W L T PF PA PTS
1. Alberta 1 1 0 0 56 10 5
2. Queen’s 1 1 0 0 19 17 4
3. Laval 2 0 2 0 27 75 1

NOTE 1: A win is worth 4 points and a tie 2 points.
NOTE 2: 1 bonus point is awarded for scoring 4 tries or more in a game.
NOTE 3: 1 bonus point is awarded for a loss by 7 points or less.

Thursday, Oct. 31
10:30 Pool A: Guelph 37, StFX 12
13:30 Pool B: Queen’s 19, Laval 17

Friday, Nov. 1
10:30 Pool A: McGill 19, StFX 10
13:30 Pool B: Alberta 56, Laval 10

Saturday, Nov. 2
10:30 Pool A: Guelph vs. McGill (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Pool B: Queen’s vs. Alberta (CIS-SIC.tv)

Sunday, Nov. 3
10:00 Fifth place: StFX vs. Laval (CIS-SIC.tv)
12:00 Bronze medal: 2nd Pool A vs. 2nd Pool B (CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Championship final: 1st Pool A vs. 1st Pool B (CIS-SIC.tv)

Note: All games will be played at TELUS-UL Stadium except those on Saturday, Nov. 2, which will be played on Field #11 behind Louis-Jacques-Casault Hall (on campus).

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 54 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:

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