NorKam Saints win Provincial Rugby Gold

May 30, 2016 | 6:16 PM

KAMLOOPS — It was the culmination a great season for the Norkam Saints Girls Rugby team, as they defeated the Port Alberni Armada, 35-17, in the Gold Medal game of the BC High School Girls Rugby Provincial Championships this morning at the Kamloops Rugby Club in Rayliegh.

The Saints led 24-5 at halftime, but the Armada battled hard in the second half, closing the gap to 7 points, before Norkam put the game out of reach late in the match.

“It’s literally amazing, I’m so happy right now,” said Kally King, Grade 10 Saints standout. “It took a lot of mental strength… to believe that we could win. It took physical strength, as well, and everyone coming together as a team.”

Norkam Grade 12 athlete Yasmin Gruneberg could barely hold back the wave emotions after the victory. “It was close. We played the hardest we have ever played,” Gruneberg told CFJC Today. “We worked from having three people at a practice, to now having a full team who [won] a gold medal. First time [in Girls Rugby] for Kamloops.”

In other final day matches for Kamloops teams, Valleyview finished 6th in the AA Division, falling 44-15 to Robert Bateman of Abbotsford, SKSS beat Salmon Arm to finish in 7th place in the AAA Division, and Westsyde dropped their match against Houston to finish in 8th spot in the AA.