BU falls in nail biter to SAIT

The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) Trojans took a commanding lead in the first half and hung on for a 24-22 victory over the host Brandon University Bobcats on Sunday afternoon in the Prairie University Women’s Rugby Conference final at John Reilly Field.

SAIT also won the inaugural Kukri Shield in 2024 with a 50-26 victory over Regina, while Brandon captured bronze with a 41-29 victory over Saskatchewan in the third-place game.

“It’s just an incredible group,” SAIT head coach Kate Kimbrell said. “We started off our season a little slow but we put in a ton of work and it was really cool to see it pay off today.”

BU head coach Brian Yon was philosophical in defeat, noting a tough first half hurt his club as they matched up against a talented opponent.

“You have to hand it to SAIT, they were better at the breakdown than us,” Yon said. “They were more physical, and we unfortunately wasted a lot of time in the first half and got starved of possession big time. In the second half we started to get it together a little bit. We veered away from the game plan today and SAIT took advantage of that, but it was a great game.

“We lost by two points. It’s everything you want in a championship game, you just want to be on the right end of things.

“You have to hand it to them, that’s two years in a row and they’ve set the bar and set the standard for the league. We’ll be back next year and we’ll go after them.”

The game started about as badly for Brandon as could be imagined. Within two minutes, Cadence Pirtle touched the ball down for SAIT after the Bobcats had turned it over. With a convert by Paige Doherty, Brandon was down 7-0.

Around the 21-minute mark, lock Brooke Miner brought the Bobcats closer with an unconverted try, but the visitors then put the weather to work a few minutes later.

The south wind was around 26 km-h, with gusts to 44. With the Trojans moving north, they booted the ball deep into Bobcats territory and Nicole Lu scored.

Late in the half, Eve Shepherd’s long run went for a try — after a turnover forced by what the home bench considered to be a high hit — and with a convert it was 19-5 at the half.

With BU finally getting the wind, they went to work, even after Kateri Mills was issued a yellow card, which meant the Bobcats played with 14 for 10 minutes.

Moments after Madison Vandal was prevented from touching the ball down in the end zone, Miner scored. Three minutes after that, BU’s Shaina Bestwitherick pushed the ball across again to make it 19-17. The two tries both came with the Bobcats still shorthanded.

“You don’t see that too often but that’s how dynamic we are,” Yon said. “When we do get the ball wide, we have some really, really good skill players out there. They were beat up and had players going down and we took advantage of exposing a couple of gaps in the field out wide and it worked out for us.”

Ricard agreed.

“It just shows our grit,” Ricard said. “Going into this year, it was a big year, especially with a championship being in Brandon. We really wanted it and knew what we had to do. Even when we were down today, we didn’t give up.”

The busiest person in the game had to be SAIT’s athletic therapist, who dealt with at least 10 downed players on the field during the physical contest.

Up just two points, SAIT decided the best defence was hanging onto the ball, and didn’t allow much until the game ultimately turned on a huge try by SAIT’s Ebe Otoikhine to put the Trojans up seven again. BU’s Raegan Ricard responded with four minutes left, but the convert to tie had to be made from near the sideline and was missed.

The fourth-year player from Mariapolis regretted the choice she made in the moment.

“It was hard because we knew coming into this game what we had to do,” Ricard said. “We were just a bit slow doing it in the first half. We really pulled it together in the second half and really made a comeback. If only I had run for the post on my try at the end, it would have been a different story today but you live and you learn.”

SAIT didn’t allow much after that, pushing the ball down the field and keeping it out of Brandon’s hands.

“That was one of our strategies, ball retention,” Kimbrell said. “If you have the ball, it’s way less exhausting and you can control the game.”

BU earned its spot in the final with a 37-24 victory over Mount Royal University on Friday, while SAIT beat the University of Saskatchewan 41-29 in the other semifinal.

Now that Brandon seems to be on a trajectory of scaling up every year, Ricard is ready for what another season brings.

“I’ve been here basically from the start after COVID,” Ricard said. “Every year we keep building. Last year we got bronze, this year we got silver. Next year it will be gold for sure.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com