Winning the Gareth Jones Cup is the start of something special for the Paul Kane Blues.
The third victory for the undefeated Blues clinched top spot in pool A and a semifinal berth in metro Edmonton division one women’s rugby.
“It’s super exciting. We’re in div one this year and we have all this talent. We really have a good shot at winning it all. It’s going to be one of our best years,” said eight-man Sydney De La Mare, after running wild for three tries in Tuesday’s 30-5 victory over the Bellerose Bulldogs.
The last division one championship for the Blues was 2008, when they competed in the premier conference.
“There’s a lot of us that are in Grade 12 and we want to make memories. Hopefully we can go all the way,” De La Mare said.
The Blues will scrum down against the Strathcona Lords (2-1) or Bev Facey Falcons (3-0), winners of the last four division one championships, from pool B in Tuesday’s playoff. Kickoff is tentatively set for 4:45 p.m. at the St Albert Rugby Football Club.
The final is May 26 at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
In preseason tournament action, the Blues beat Strathcona 20-5 and lost 15-5 to Facey.
“We get to play the second place team in the other pool so it’s kind of nice to have that upper hand,” De La Mare said. “We were in div two last year and to come up to div one and come out on top in our pool is awesome.”
Last year the Blues lost once after four wins as a marathon drop goal session sealed their fate in the division two semifinal.
De La Mare, 18, is among nine players remaining from the 2014 division two championship team that finished 5-1.
“There is a lot of similarities, like cohesive-wise. Both teams clicked really well. We’re all one team. It’s not all individuals. If you look on the board, it’s not just two or three players scoring tries, it’s usually four or five or six,” De La Mare said. “The difference is that in Grade 10 all of us Grade 12s were all new and we were all learning how to play rugby and now we’ve learned that and we’re Grade 12s and leading the team.”
Pride was on the line against the Bulldogs, last year’s division one finalists at 4-3 and the inaugural Gareth Jones Cup champions at the 2012 St. Albert high schools’ tournament.
“Everyone was super nervous going into it. Paul Kane/Bellerose is a huge rivalry,” said De La Mare of the Battle of St. Albert that also served as the second edition of the female Gareth Jones Cup showdown.
Fans stood shoulder to shoulder along both touch lines to cheer on the teams, however the Big Game was played on the SARFC second field instead of the premier pitch in front of the clubhouse deck. That’s where the fourth edition of the men’s Gareth Jones Cup was staged last week, as the Bulldogs downed the Blues 20-7.
The lady Blues broke it open with tries by Kendall DeWitt, Amelie Gautier and Emily DeWitt during an 11-minute span in the second quarter to lead 20-0 at halftime.
“At the start we wanted to pound it to them and get some tries,” De La Mare said. “In the third quarter they really came back and it could’ve been anyone’s game. It was 20-5 and at the end we just wanted to finish it and get some reassuring tries.”
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com for the trophy pictures.
The Bulldogs spent the bulk of the first half defending instead of attacking.
“We were nervous and not quite focused maybe. We weren’t ready for what we should be expecting,” said Brittany Siewert of the Bulldogs. “They’re a strong team this year.”
A soul-searching session at halftime brought out the best in the Bulldogs (1-2) for the rest of the match.
“We were like, ‘We’ve got to get serious. This is not the Bulldog way,’” Siewert said. “Our defence improved. We started getting to the rucks faster than they did, which was good, so we started saving ourselves on D. In the third quarter they didn’t get any tries against us, which was obviously an improvement.
“We just started pushing a little bit harder. We knew we had to get what was in us out while sacrificing in our last game.”
Siewert, 17, cracked the try line to end the third quarter as the Bulldogs rucked and mauled their way into scoring position for the Grade 12 eight-man to complete the forward-driven play.
“There was a hole in the defence and I was able to get it in but it was a whole team effort,” said the third-year Bulldog.
De La Mare opened the scoring with four minutes left in the first quarter and capped off the win with a pair of scores late in the contest after sitting out the third quarter for a breather. The powerful runner was also stopped short of the try line twice by the desperate Bulldogs in the second quarter.
The best of the bunch for De La Mare was the first try, a determined romp down the centre of the field as the Bulldogs scrambled to track her down.
“It was like, ‘Wow! We have a shot at this.’ It was kind of like the nerves came off me after that try. I was like, ‘We’ve got it. It’s OK now,’ ” said the U18 national team player.
Last month in England, Canada played two matches against the England Talent Development Group and De La Mare started game one at lock and came off the bench in game two as the Brits posted wins of 41-17 and 17-12.
“It was a great experience to play at the crazy high level rugby and then come back and share that with my team is what I really took out of that experience,” said De La Mare, who will play university rugby with the Lethbridge Pronghorns in the fall.
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