A former Okotoks high school rugby star made a dream debut for her province.
Okotokian Melissa Bass helped Team Alberta to a gold medal performance in defeating Ontario 15-10 in the final of the U18 women’s division at the 2012 National Festival of Rugby Championships in Sherbrooke, QC on Aug. 12.
“It’s probably one of the best accomplishments I’ve ever had,” said Bass from the team bus in Quebec following the gold-medal game. “It’s a great feeling.”
Not a bad showing for her first tournament with Alberta’s U18 squad.
“It worked out pretty good for my first and last year,” said Bass, who graduated from Holy Trinity Academy in June.
With a humidex of 32 degrees in Sherbrooke, conditions were far from ideal with national bragging rights on the line at the tournament.
“We came from behind so the game felt really short,” Bass said. “Every minute was hard, it was super hot, it was challenging, but definitely worth it to keep playing through it.”
Team Alberta trailed 8-3 at halftime, a successful penalty conversion were its only points through a defensive first half.
Alberta gained ground with its first try of the game, scored by Bass’ former Big Sky Rugby Union rival Chanelle Edwards-Challenger from Springbank High School from 10 yards out.
“It was a lot of teamwork, a lot of quick passes all through everyone and she just punched it through the defensive line and got it in,” Bass said.
Alberta would punch their ticket on the national title with a late try from Corey Riley and subsequent conversion to close out the match with the five-point victory.
See Bass on page 31
It was the perfect end to a perfect tournament for the Wild Rose province. Alberta went undefeated with a 6-0 record in Quebec while outscoring their opponents by a margin of 111-28 through the four days of competition.
Bass, who lined up at inside-centre for Team Alberta, attributed the resounding success largely to head coach Liam Hutchinson.
“They really prepped us for it and we set one big goal and that was to be in the gold medal game,” she said. “From when we got into that game it was to come out with gold.”
Defeating British Columbia twice in the tournament and Ontario in the final, traditional powerhouses in Canadian rugby, were no easy feats.
“I’d say Ontario was the best team, playing B.C. twice was just hard,” she said. “(Ontario) were a really strong rucking team, as soon as the ball went down they were right in our face and were really strong defensively.”
Bass, a standout for the Holy Trinity Knights in rugby, had a few personal highlights to go along with the team triumph, including the only try for her team in the 13-8 semifinal win over Team B.C.
“I blocked the kick and it went behind the defensive players and I landed on it and I went in the end zone,” Bass said. “I had a couple really big hits and kept pumping myself up.”
It was a good weekend to be a junior rugby player donning Team Alberta colours.
The U18 Alberta men took the national silver medal in Sherbrooke, losing 40-16 to a powerhouse B.C. team in the tournament final. Team Alberta’s U16 men finished in sixth place. For more information go to www.rugbycanada.ca.
