BIBLE HILL – Nova Scotia dominated from the opening whistle en route to a convincing 36-0 gold medal victory over Prince Edward Island Sunday at the Eastern Canadian rugby championship.
The under-18 girls squad included seven Colchester County players (co-captain Becky Blank, Ali Munroe, Olivia Smith, Meghan MacEachern, Amie Unicomb, Payson Saunders and Mashal Fida).
"All three years I've played in Easterns we haven't won a gold medal, so it's nice," said Blank, noting the team won silver a year ago. "We have a great team this year ... (and) we all really wanted it being at home."
The division was one of four played this weekend at the Farnham Mill Road Rugby Park complex in Bible Hill.
Nova Scotia had the wind at their back in the first half of the championship game and it helped keep PEI pinned in their own end. Nova Scotia put four tries on the board in that first half and didn't look back scoring another seconds into the final half.
Nova Scotia kept its focus and didn't let up.
"The last game we played we were fairly equal and they said if we can get four tries in a half so can they," Blank said.
But it was the homeside's game to win. Nova Scotia went undefeated in four games to get a bye into Sunday's championship while P.E.I. had to play New Brunswick to earn a spot in the finale.
"We haven't had a point scored against us all weekend," said Scotsburn's Emma Taylor, who scored a pair of tries in the championship game.
While all teams like playing offense, she said, her teammates took pride in their play without the ball. The dogged determination was on display throughout the weekend, including once when Christa Dunn chased a girl down from the other side of the field to make a tackle just before the try line.
"When you see one girl working her butt off to get back there ... you want to get back there to help her," Taylor explained.
Ali Munroe, 18, was also part of last year's silver-winning squad. She said while this year's team has been together for about two months this weekend was their first games of the year as a team.
"We weren't weak in any area. We had strong forwards and strong backs," the Truro native said. "Other teams were weaker in some spots and we took advantage of it."
jmalloy@trurodaily.com
Factbox:
RUGBY RECAP (THIS CAP GO In the flag/penant)
The following are the scores from Nova Scotia's games in the under-18 women's division.
FridayNova Scotia 10 Prince Edward Island 0
Try scorers: Megan Oldford
Nova Scotia 25 New Brunswick 0
Try scorers: Christa Dunn, Megan Oldford, Ali Munroe, Riley Kitchin
SaturdayNova Scotia 20 Prince Edward Island 0
Try scorers: Emma Taylor, Sam Andrews, Ali Munroe
Nova Scotia 12 New Brunswick 0
Try scorers: Emma Taylor
SundayFinalNova Scotia 36 Prince Edward Island 0
Try scorers: Emma Taylor, Megan Oldford and Ali Munroe
DIVISION winners:
Under-16 men: New Brunswick
Under-18 men: Ontario
Under-18 women: Nova Scotia
Under-20 women: Ontario (in penalty kicks)
