Seattle Saracens – Saturday is a rugby day, no matter what…

Saturday is a rugby day, the common mantra spoken by each athlete ready to compete on the weekend. But for the Seattle Saracens Women’s teams, it usually means one of two scenarios: either hosting a Canadian premier side or traveling north from Seattle to play them on the road.  This Saturday we were heading north to play two matches against Capilanos RFC, first our premier 15’s side and then our 2nd division 10’s side.

Meeting at the Park and Ride at 6:45 am on that cold April morning was routine and efficient. Parceling out riders to cars, printed directions, passport reminders. For most of us, crossing the border into Canada renders our phones and their subsequent data packages useless, so the printed directions take on a new meaning. They are security blankets for our arrival and more importantly, the only printed or visual pathway south and across the border back into the U.S.

Seattle is roughly 140 miles from Vancouver proper and the trip usually takes about 2 ½ -3 hours depending upon the wait at the border and the respective location of the host team. Today, we were going all the way into Vancouver to compete at Capilanos magnificent rugby facility, complete with two dedicated grass pitches and covered stands that literally looked over the pitch. All of this in the shadow of the incredible Lion’s Gate Suspension Bridge that dominates the Vancouver skyline. Think Golden Gate but green.

Spring weather in the Pacific Northwest is very unique and unpredictable, one minute a crystal blue sky and the next a violent hail storm from clouds as black as night. Unfortunately, we hit the latter on our drive north to the border. Without any warning, Interstate 5 quickly became an ice sheet of hail and cars speeding along at 70 mph were spinning sideways and out of control. All told, 12 cars ended up off the highway, some flipped on their side others smashed into the guardrail. Of the 12 cars, our team occupied 2 of them. Luckily, all of the players were fine with only horrible memories of spinning out of control.

As the news quickly spread to the other cars and players waiting in Bellingham to meet up prior to crossing the border, everyone at first was shocked and relieved that no one was injured. Then the conversation turned to our upcoming games that lay ahead of us. Considering the close brush with disaster, should we circle the wagons and head home? Could we actually play two rugby games after multiple car crashes?

The coaching staff and club president briefly spoke on the phone and decided to call Capilanos RFC, explain the dire situation and ask to reschedule the game for a later weekend. That strategy was quickly put aside as every player, even the ones who slid off the highway at 70 mph wanted to continue on, they wanted to play rugby! We did lose one car of players who slammed into the guardrail and totaled the car. Our new plan was to forfeit the 10’s match and play the 15’s match a bit later than the expected Kick Off time. And after speaking with the coaching staff at Capilanos, off we went back on the highway with blue skies and a resolve to finish today with a W.

The crashes and subsequent logistical delay of rounding up broken cars, dealing with tow trucks and finding car space for players put us at the border later than usual. We had to wait for 45 minutes and then had another drive before even stepping on the pitch.

Finally at the pitch after an incredibly challenging morning, we were greeted by the ref,  Jerry who told us we had 15 minutes to get ready.  Their players had been waiting all morning. Lovely next chapter to our morning of fun! Again, without complaint the players kitted up, warmed up and were ready to go.

It was a very physical game between the two BC premier sides. Capilanos were very content to keep the ball in tight and hammer away with their big forwards. They were big but not too dynamic at the start and our tackles were effective at stopping their momentum. Their centers were very big and very fast athletes that wore down our defense with long, charging runs deep into our half.  We turned over a few balls, spun the ball out wide and scored a few sweet tries to take a solid lead going into half, 10-0.

In the second half, Capilanos were able to dominate the scrums as our front row tired. This gave the home side the lion share of possession and after multiple attacks, the home side pulled ahead in the 78th minute, 15-19. As the final whistle was blown and the Capilanos fans cheered on their victors, our players huddled together to pick up the pieces emotionally and remember all the adversity that occurred on this day. We spoke about unity, about determination and the will to continue to fight. The players talked about learning from this hard lesson, no one pointing fingers about fitness, missed tackles. Sometimes a tough loss like this one brings a close-knit group of athletes that much closer and that much more determined to get better.

Seattle Saracens currently sit in 2nd place of the BC Women’s Premier League with one league game left.