Rugby finals
St. Albert Rugby Football Club teams are rucking and mauling in two finals today at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
Kickoff times are 1:15 p.m. for the division two women against the Clan in the Edmonton Rugby Union and 4:45 p.m. for the premier men against the Strathcona Druids for the Ken Ann Cup.
SARFC (8-5) and the Clan (7-5) split two matches in the ERU women's fixtures: 46-21 for SARFC in round one June 12 and 39-22 for the Clan in round two Aug. 24.
The Clan, last year’s champions, finished first in round two at 6-1 for a berth in the final and second-place SARFC (5-2) defeated the LA Crude (4-3) 32-10 in the semifinal.
The last Playoff Cup victory by the SARFC women was 2014 as the division two ERU and Rugby Alberta champions.
The Ken Ann Cup marks the 11th north final in 12 years for the SARFC first 15 men and last year’s championship was the ninth since 2008.
The winner between SARFC (7-4-1) and the Druids (8-3-1) will scrum down against the Calgary Rams (8-2) or Calgary Canucks (8-2) for the Labatt’s Cup next Saturday at 5 p.m. at Ellerslie.
Last year’s Labatt’s Cup for SARFC was the fifth provincial championship since 2010 and the first since the 2014-16 threepeat.
SARFC and the Druids tangled twice at Sherwood Park in the Alberta Cup premier league and the results were 22-19 for SARFC on June 14 in the round one north fixtures and the 28-28 draw Sept. 7 in the last north/south interlock match.
Sabres at home
Today’s home debut for the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres starts at 2:15 p.m. against the SSAC Lions at Go Auto Arena.
The Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League regular season opened Friday for the Sabres against the KC Squires at Callingwood Twin Arenas and the score was unavailable at press time.
The Sabres have four returning players on the roster from the 2018/19 team (13-15-5) that tied for third in the nitro division of the north conference and in the playoffs finished 3-2 as the division finalist.
Volleyball matches
The metro Edmonton high school volleyball season is underway with the following St. Albert senior men’s and women’s teams hosting best-of-five matches Monday.
Division two women: Bellerose Bulldogs versus Sturgeon Spirits at 5 p.m.
Division two men: Bellerose versus Leduc Tigers at 6:30 p.m.
Division four men: Alexandre-Tache Scorpions versus St. Joseph Saints at 5:30 p.m.
Visit metroathletics.ca for the league schedules.
