The U21 men’s fixtures kick-off tonight at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
Game time is 7 p.m. between SARFC and the Nor’Westers.
The U21 table consists of five teams and the playoffs start June 8. The Edmonton Rugby Union champions advance to provincials June 25 at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The Gareth Jones Cup is at stake in Thursday’s Battle of St. Albert between the Bellerose Bulldogs and Paul Kane Blues in high school men’s rugby.
Kickoff is 6:15 p.m. on the first pitch at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The metro Edmonton division two/three pool A teams hooked up April 23 in exhibition action and Bellerose won 22-7.
The Gareth Jones Cup was awarded to Bellerose at the 2012 St. Albert high schools’ tournament and Paul Kane is the current keeper of the cup with league wins over Bellerose of 31-0 last year and 12-11 in 2013.
The cup will also be presented at the May 10 showdown between Bellerose and Paul Kane in the division one pool A women’s tilt at 4:45 p.m. at SARFC. Bellerose is the only recipient of the female cup as the winner of the St. Albert high schools’ tournament, a three team round-robin format four years ago.
The coveted cup honours one of the Nervous Nine founding members of SARFC and its first president. Jones also coached Paul Kane’s first rugby team in 1980 and was inducted into the Alberta Rugby Hall of Fame in 2005.
The 18th annual Spirit of the North celebrates 20 years for the Desa School of Karate in St. Albert.
Manuel deSa, a seventh-degree black-belt, is the head instructor and his teacher from Okinawa, Grand Master Kiyohide Shinjo, is in St. Albert to commemorate the milestone. It’s also the first time Shinjo’s two sons have accompanied him to an international event and the trio are leading training sessions this week at the Riel Park dojo with students from the region and United Sates. They are joined by several renowned American Master instructors in St. Albert for the event.
The Spirit of the North ends with a tournament this weekend at Go Auto Arena.
Friday’s demonstrations by black-belts and board-breaking displays start at 6 p.m., followed by the black-belt tournament at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday’s tournament is for students below black-belts.
Admission is free both days.
