It's one of the most electrifying rugby plays you'll ever see, and it put Canada's national team into the championship final of the Women's Rugby World Cup.
It's also got North Shore fingerprints all over it. Leading their semifinal against the host team 11-6 early in the second half Wednesday at Stade Jean Bouin in Paris, the Canadians were in a tight spot, facing a French scrum in the shadow of their own goalposts. The Canadian front eight, including Carson Graham grad and Capilano Rugby Club member Hilary Leith at tighthead prop, blasted back their French counterparts on contact, stealing the scrum in decisive fashion.
Canada's Elissa Alarie scooped up the ball and scooted to her right before dishing off to Andrea Burk, another Carson Graham grad and Capilano member, who deftly passed again in one swift motion to a charging Mandy Marchak, the third member of the Capilano Rugby Club playing in the biggest game in the history of Canadian women's rugby. Marchak ran straight at a tackler, drawing her to the inside before shooting a pass outside to Magali Harvery who then lit a trail of fire on an amazing 80-metre run, juking a tackler with a wicked head fake at midfield before sprinting the rest of the field and diving into the corner for an incredible try. Harvey topped it all off by kicking the convert from an extremely tight angle to give the Canadians an 18-6 lead.
Those two points on the convert would prove crucial as France battled back with two late tries. The French, however, missed their converts and Canada held on for a historic 18-16 win to send them to their firstever World Cup final. Watching it all unfold at home on the North Shore was Brad Baker, the longtime girls' rugby coach at Carson Graham.
"I've been involved in rugby now for 20 years and it's one of the best tries I've ever seen, men or women," said Baker. "Mandy and Andrea kind of exploited the channels which opened up the wide one for Magali. It was pretty cool to see."
Baker was on pins and needles as he watched the game, not just as a rugby fanatic but as a nervous coach - he helped kickstart the careers of both Burk and Leith. He coached them both as Carson Graham teammates - Burk graduated in 2000 and Leith in 2001. The Carson Graham girls' rugby team is a dominant force in the province, recently winning seven championships in a row, but the two grads who are on the cusp of a World Cup win never actually took home a B.C. high school title.
"We just hadn't cracked the seal yet," said Baker with a laugh. "Our program didn't start until 1996 so they were just in the beginning stages.. .. The championship run started after them, which is kind of interesting. Nothing against them or anything - it's just weird."
Even though they didn't take home titles, Baker said both players seemed destined for big things. Burk was a speedy back-row player who ran hard with the ball and tackled hard without it. Baker remembers taking her to a tryout for the B.C. U19 team, her first crack at making a rep squad.
"She was extremely nervous," he said. "She was the only Carson kid going to that tryout. I remember she was really nervous but she lit it up a little bit. She was fit back then, as she is now.. .. The coaches knew right away that they had a very physical and fast rugby player."
Leith was a dual-sport star at the school, winning provincial titles on the wrestling mat. She took that powerful approach with her onto the rugby field, said Baker.
"You'd get the ball in her hands and she'd kind of run over girls constantly. Good tackler, ran the ball hard."
Marchak grew up in Winnipeg but moved to the North Shore to join the Capilano Rugby Club to improve her game by training year-round alongside elite players like Leith and Burk. In recent years all three players have committed fully to a training program that has seen them sequestered for long stretches of time at the national training facility in Victoria.
"All three girls have put a lot of time in to get where they are," said Baker. "Their full time job over the past three or four years has been rugby. They've put everything on the back burner to achieve a goal of hopefully winning a World Cup and they're 80 minutes away from doing that. That's pretty cool."
Canada will take on England in the World Cup final Sunday starting at 9:30 a.m. PDT. The two teams met in pool play last Saturday, battling to a 13-13 tie. Capilano Rugby Club will be abuzz Sunday morning with teammates, friends and fans hoping to see three of their own - all expected to be in the starting lineup - make Canadian history. "It's not very often you'll have three club members playing for a World Cup final, men or women," said Baker before dropping back into his coach persona for a few motivational words.
"This will not come around every day," he said.
"This might be their only shot. Take advantage of it.. .. Win or lose, we're going to be proud of the girls. But obviously we want them to win, bring the World Cup trophy back to the North Shore."
