McLeod caps U Sports career with title

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This article was published 05/11/2024 (457 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jordan McLeod almost went her entire U Sports career without settling for less than Canada West gold or winning her first game at nationals.

One will forever remain true, and the other changed in a huge way in her final season. McLeod and the UBC Thunderbirds not only demolished the host University of Prince Edward Island Panthers in the quarterfinals — their first-ever opening-round victory — they walked off as national champions, defeating the Victoria Vikes 8-3 in the gold-medal game on Sunday.

Finally, the feeling the Rivers native had grown accustomed to in high school had returned, as her Rivers Rams won the Westman High School Rugby sevens title and her Minnedosa Chancellors co-op team went back-to-back as provincial 15s champions.

“It’s a bit of a throwback to the Rivers teams and all those banners,” McLeod said via phone interview.

“We always had done so well in Canada West and sevens, being successful there too. Nationals, we just couldn’t figure it out … Every year we go in, we knew we had such a good chance to do it and it was always disappointing when we wouldn’t. This week, everything prep-wise went well and we got a good draw, finally. In other years, we haven’t.”

That might be an understatement. While the Thunderbirds lost both their games at the 2019 nationals, McLeod’s first appearance, they followed the season lost to COVID-19 with three-straight fifth-place finishes. UBC fell 33-26 to senior national team star Sophie De Goede the eventual champion Queen’s Gaels in 2021, before dominating both their consolation-side matches.

The T-Birds fell to the Guelph Gryphons 26-25 the following year, then lost a 7-5 heartbreaker to the champion Laval Rouge et Or in 2023.

Seeds are based on past performance by each conference, and with the Vikes earning silver last year, the T-Birds’ draw this time around was finally favourable.

“It was an easy quarter. We knew that was going to be a blowout, to be honest,” McLeod said of the 72-7 thrashing of the host Panthers.

UBC kept its foot down and rolled over the University of Ottawa 47-17, though McLeod felt that one was a lot tougher than the score suggested.

“UOttawa’s got a great forward pack so it was definitely a battle in that sense. They out-scrummed us, credit to them … but we opened it up in the second half,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Vikes upset the top-seed Rouge et Or in the quarterfinals and knocked off the Gaels 17-14 in their semifinal.

McLeod feels Victoria’s path to a rematch of the Canada West final was significantly tougher.

While the Vikes may have been the more battered side, they were still the only one to beat the T-Birds all year in their season opener.

“We play UVic all the time, we played them a few times this season, we dropped the first game to them but we didn’t have our full squad then,” McLeod said.

“They had all their players back for nationals and had been playing really well. It was anyone’s ballgame.

“It was definitely a mental battle to stay in it and I don’t know how it felt watching but I felt confident the whole time.”

UBC took the lead a few minutes in as Savannah Bauder knocked a penalty kick through the uprights to lead 3-0.

Both teams missed quality scoring chances throughout the day before Charity Williams — a familiar name for those who watched Canada win silver in rugby sevens at the Olympics in Paris — broke through for the lone try of the game to lead 8-0 with 15 minutes remaining.

She was one of a few Olympians on the UBC roster, which made a huge difference.

“It was very special to have them part of the team this season, it brought a lot of us up in terms of our training. It made everyone better,” McLeod said.

The Vikes scored on a penalty kick a few minutes later but never broke through UBC’s defence.

“We’re definitely very strong offensively … but we’re maybe not always there defensively and we don’t get the opportunity to see that throughout the season, but we were so good in that game,” McLeod said.

McLeod hopes the final wasn’t her final 15s game. She started her master’s degree this year and plans to finish in December 2025, then see if she can take her game overseas like Souris native Emily Tuttosi, who also plays hooker, currently with the Exeter Chiefs in the United Kingdom and for Team Canada.

While the future is up in the air, her post-secondary legacy is cemented.

McLeod was named player of the game for the final, and a tournament all-star after leading her program to its pinnacle.

“That was pretty special. This tournament and everything that happened for me was a really special way to end things off,” McLeod said.

“It was pretty cool to be recognized for just being a girl out of Manitoba.”

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