UVIC Vikes successfully defended its Canada West Women’s Rugby Championship title with a dominant 67-12 win over defending national champions UBC Thunderbirds.
The undefeated Vikes led from start to finish in Sunday’s final at Wallace Field as they captured their second successive Conference banner in a repeat of last year’s final.
Both teams enjoyed dominant semi-final wins with the Vikes beating Alberta Pandas 76-14 and Thunderbirds seeing off the Lethbridge Pronghorns to set up Sunday’s Championship match.
The Vikes will now be hoping to go one better at the upcoming U SPORTS National Championships, after falling to the Thunderbirds in the 2025 National Final.
"I'm very proud of our program and where it's at right now," said UVIC Vikes Head Coach Brittany Waters. "We had an alumni event last night and talked about the journey of the Vikes, where we've come from and the people who helped get us to this point. It was pretty special to share that with everyone.
"The group that took the field today performed very well from top to bottom. One of our biggest strengths right now is the depth we have in our program. We're able to maintain that level for 80 minutes, and that's pretty special. We're looking forward to nationals and carrying this momentum forward. We were here last year and won Can West, which was excellent for the program, but we know we need to keep putting in performances like this if we want to be national champions. We're happy, but we're definitely not satisfied."
A full recap of Sunday’s Final
can be found here. Both the Vikes and Thunderbirds will now prepare for the U SPORTS National Championships.
Vikes’ centre Maddy Grant was named Canada West Player of the Year, with Brittany Waters picking up Coach of the Year for the second successive year. UBC's Teni Epemolu was named Rookie of the Year, while several BC-based athletes were named Canada West All Stars.
Read the full list here.
