Horns women’s rugby set to compete for a Canada West championship

By Lethbridge Herald on October 18, 2023.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s rugby  team will begin their quest for a championship today as hosts of the Rugby 15s Canada West championship.

The Horns are going into the championship as the fourth seed and will face the first seeded UBC Thunderbirds, a team that beat them 61-0 out on the west coast earlier in the season.

“Yeah we’re really looking forward to it,” said Horns head coach Graeme Moffat.

“We got beat (61) points to zero out on the coast and we played quite well. So, we have to throw the kitchen sink at UBC (tonight) and the girls are excited to go and have a real crack at them.”

Moffat said it would be a massive upset.

“But we talk (to) our girls about the ABC,” he said.

“We’ve got to be ambitious; we’ve got to be brave and then we’ve got to be courageous. So that’s the kind of things that we’ve got to get right. So, we’ve got to play without fear… But we have to be able to get on to the next job and kind of play the game just minute by minute. Every kind of minute, it’s  a battle in the  game, and that’s what we just got to remember.”

The tournament is only two days with the medal games being held on Sunday.

“So, (we) got to prioritize recovery,” said Moffat.

“A lot of the work we do between Thursday and Sunday will be around trying to get the kind of  mental reps done, trying to make sure that we have real clarity in what we’re trying to do and then obviously identify a couple of things that we anticipate the opposition will bring.”

U of L will face UBC in one semi-final at 5 p.m. and the other semi will see University of Victoria face University of Alberta at 3 p.m. at U of L Community Sports Stadium.

“Yeah, we’re really looking forward to it,” said Moffat.

“I think anytime you get to have any form of playoff or competition in your own back yard, I think it’s really beneficial. The girls are really excited to play at home. We’re hoping (to) get a good crowd out on Thursday night as we kind of  take on UBC, who have obviously won Canada West for the last couple of years. So that home field advantage is definitely something we’re excited about.”

The semi-final winners will play for gold on Sunday ay 1 p.m. while the losers will play for Bronze at 11 a.m.

The top two will move on to nationals at Laval University in Quebec City from Nov. 1-5.

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