Division one women
The Sturgeon Spirits battle the reigning division one champion Bev Facey Falcons in Thursday’s metro Edmonton women’s rugby final.Kickoff is 4:30 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
Facey is the winner of six consecutive metro banners and last year Sturgeon finished 9-1 overall as the division two champion and Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Tier 2 bronze medallist.
Sturgeon is 5-2 (311 PF/231 PA) after beating the McNally Tigers 34-31 with six tries and two conversions in Monday’s semifinal at Pirates Rugby Club.
McNally scored its fifth try with two minutes to play and decided not to kick the conversion in hopes of having an opportunity to get the ball back to generate the game-winning points but were unsuccessful.
McNally (5-2, 310 PF/141 PA) placed second and Sturgeon was third in the seven-team table.
McNally beat Sturgeon in the April 26 season opener 43-19 at the Clareview turf field.
Sturgeon is undefeated in three matches after the 49-29 loss to the Bellerose Bulldogs and the winning streak started with the 57-43 decision against fourth-place Facey (4-3, 336 PF/155 PA).
Facey knocked off the first-place Bulldogs (6-1, 305 PF/106 PA) in Monday’s 55-27 semifinal at St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
Bellerose allowed only 51 points against in six wins before the loss. One of the victories was 15-10 against Facey.
Bellerose, last year’s ASAA Tier 1 consolation champion, and McNally will scrum down in a provincial qualifier next week and the winner will join Facey as the Edmonton zone reps at the ASAA championships, June 8-9 in Calgary.
Sturgeon is the Tier 2 rep at provincials.
The last match for Bellerose before the playoffs was 30-5 against McNally.
Division two women
The Paul Kane Blues have a score to settle against the Harry Ainlay Titans in the metro Edmonton division two women’s rugby final.Thursday’s kick-off is 4:15 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The lone loss for Paul Kane (5-1, 154 PF/134 PA) was 62-7 to Ainlay (6-0, 367 PF/22 PA) in the second last match before the semifinals. The halftime score was 26-7 and after three quarters it was 33-7. Ainley scored 10 tries in total.
Ainlay rolled over the Beaumont Bandits (2-3-1, 120 PF/212 PA) in Monday's semifinal 87-0.
Paul Kane returns to its fourth metro final in five years and the third in division two since winning the 2014 championship after defeating the Memorial Marauders 21-10 in Monday’s semifinal at St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
Last year Paul Kane (4-2-1, 166 PF/165 PA) fell 34-5 to the Sturgeon Spirits for division two honours.
Paul Kane was also the division one finalist in 2016.
Memorial (2-3-1, 160 PF/124 PA) finished third in the six-team table and in league play lost to 27-17 to Paul Kane.
Division two men
The winner of Tuesday’s semifinal between the Bellerose Bulldogs and Paul Kane Blues will ruck and maul in Thursday’s metro Edmonton division two men’s rugby final.The score between Bellerose (4-0, 152 PF/76 PA) and Paul Kane (2-2, 90 PF/101 PA) was unavailable at press time.
The last championship banners for both teams was before the merger of the metro and Edmonton public leagues: 2013 for Bellerose and 2011 for Paul Kane in the city conference.
The winner lines up against the Jasper Place Rebels (4-0, 177 PF/59 PA) or Bev Facey Falcons (3-1, 88 PF/92 PA) in the 6:15 p.m. final at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
In league play, Bellerose beat Paul Kane 25-10 May 10 in the sixth edition of the Gareth Jones Cup.
Last week’s quarter-final scores were 45-20 for Bellerose against the St. Francis Xavier Rams (0-4, 88 PF/171 PA) and 34-29 for Paul Kane against the J. Percy Page Panthers (3-1, 128 PF/169 PA).
Christian Pulis, an explosive Grade 12 running back for the St. Albert High Skyhawks, ran wild for four tries for Bellerose against the Rams. Towards the midway point in the second half it was 40-5.
Paul Kane rallied from a nine-point deficit after the Panthers scored a try with about 10 minutes to play to make it 29-20.
Pinned against its try line, Paul Kane rattled off a five-phase try under the posts that started off with an eight-man pick and go. The conversion left Paul Kane trailing by two with under five minutes remaining.
After the kick-off, Paul Kane was awarded a scrum on the halfway line and with the Blues driving the ball the Panthers were penalized twice and the second infraction was a penalty try worth seven points.
With two minutes to go, Paul Kane held the Panthers between the 22-metre lines and capped off the comeback win with a kick out of bounds as time expired.
SARFC men
Friday the men’s third division match between the SARFC/Druids and Nor’Westers kicks off at 7 p.m. at St. Albert Rugby Football Club.The SARFC/Druids are 0-1 and the Nor’Westers are making their season debut in the Edmonton Rugby Union.
Saturday’s doubleheader against the Rams in Calgary starts at 2:45 p.m. for the Alberta Cup premier team and 4:30 p.m. for the ERU second division team.
In the premier ranks, SARFC won its league opener 31-19 against the Clan (0-2) last weekend and the Rams are 2-0.
SARFC is 0-2 in the second division after the 50-26 loss to LA Crude (1-0) last weekend and the Rams are 1-1-1.
