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Pfleiderer, Team BC, win Canadian championship

Williams Lake’s Laura Pfleiderer and her BC Rugby U18 Sevens girls teammates celebrated a monumental Canadian Rugby 7s Championship.
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Williams Lake’s Laura Pfleiderer (third from left) celebrates a Canadian Rugby 7s Championship victory with her U18 Team BC teammates in front of thousands at BC Place.

Williams Lake’s Laura Pfleiderer and her BC Rugby U18 Sevens girls teammates celebrated a monumental Canadian Rugby 7s Championship victory March 12 in front of a boisterous home crowd at BC Place.

Strengthened by a relentless effort on defence BC, who had conceded only one try in the entire tournament, blanked Alberta by a score of 17-0.

Moments later, victory celebrations already underway, the BC Rugby U18 Boys followed suit with a 17-5 win over Ontario.

From the outset of the girls’ game BC quickly took up possession and put early pressure on Alberta.

A forced knock-on deep in opposition territory allowed BC to put their set-piece skills to work where Brooke Bazian of Kamloops did not disappoint.

Bazian finished the fast-paced sequence while being tackled hard to the right of the posts, getting the ball down in goal to give BC the lead, much to the delight of the thousands of fans cheering the team on.

BC then continued its momentum in the shutout victory.

“The focus and intensity we showed all week was incredible,” said BC Rugby U18 girls coach, Darcy Patterson. “In five games we allowed only one try against, which shows how much heart and determination our girls had on defense.

“That pressure in turn created a lot of offensive opportunities for us. It was a big crowd for the final in BC Place, a great showcase for women’s rugby and the girls handled it so well. It’s been an amazing few days for this group and I cannot say enough good things about them and the effort they put in.”

BC took wins over Ontario 1 (22-0), Ontario 2 (20-0), Newfoundland (49-0), Ontario 2 (29-5) and Alberta (17-0).

Pfleiderer is a member of the BC Rugby Elite Girl’s 7s Program and has been attending various camps in the Lower Mainland throughout the winter. She’s also a Grade 12 student and player for the Lake City Falcons girls rugby team.