A provincial championship is up for grabs in today’s U18 female final between the St. Albert Rugby Football Club and Calgary Hornets Black.
Kickoff is 1:45 p.m. at Calgary Rugby Park.
The SARFC ladies are 6-0 (434 PF/37 PA) after beating the Nor’Westers 41-22 in the Edmonton Rugby Union final Monday at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the team picture.
Hornets Black, one of two Calgary Hornets U18 teams in the Calgary Rugby Union, finished second at 5-1 (five bonus points) in league play and in the playoffs defeated the first-place Irish (5-1, seven BP) 40-5 Aug. 20.
A number of SARFC juniors play for the first division team in the ERU. The junior roster includes three U18 Prairie Wolfpack players – Sydney De La Mare, Alexie Pusch and reserve Payton McNeil – at the Canadian Rugby Championship in Toronto. De La Mare led the tournament in tries with six and points with 30 and Pusch also scored a try for the Wolf Pack (3-1, four BP, 139 PF/23 PA).
The last match for the Wolfpack in the five-team round robin was Sunday’s 8-5 loss to B.C. (3-1, four BP, 126 PF/43 PA).
Meanwhile, the Alberta U16 ladies placed third at the four-team nationals in Toronto with Mackenzie Hamm, Avery Jeffery and Kiana Krueger of SARFC in the lineup.
Alberta’s 2-3 record included wins against New Brunswick of 80-5 in the round robin and 66-0 in the playoffs.
The Alberta U16 males finished 3-3 at nationals after losing the final 31-24 to B.C. SARFC was represented by Kyle Dolph and reserve Ben Miller.
The last match before the playoffs for the division one women is Wednesday against Crude/West.
Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
If the SARFC ladies (8-3, nine bonus points) finish first in the Edmonton Rugby Union they would host Crude/West (3-6, four BP) in the Sept. 17 semifinals.
SARFC is two points ahead of the Pirates (7-2, 11 BP) and 11 in front of the Clanswomen (6-3, six BP) but both teams have two matches in hand on the frontrunners. The Pirates and Clan end the league fixtures with a home and home series 11 days apart.
SARFC is 3-2 in its last five matches and previous results against Crude/West were wins of 29-25 in the May 14 season opener and 36-0 June 11.
The ERU final is Sept. 24 at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The premier men’s team line up against the Strathcona Druids in the Alberta Cup fixtures Thursday.
The last home match before the playoffs is 6:30 p.m. at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The SARFC first 15 (7-2, 10 bonus points) are second and the Druids (3-4-1, seven BP) are sixth in the nine-team table.
The firsts close out league play Sept. 10 against the fifth-place Calgary Rams (4-4-1, four BP) at 3:30 p.m. at Calgary Rugby Park.
The firsts hold a five-point advantage over the third-place Nor’Westers (6-3, nine BP) for the top seed in the Ken Ann Cup north semifinals Sept. 17.
The Calgary Hornets are a perfect 10-0 (10 BP).
The Ken Ann Cup final is Sept. 24 and the winner advances to the Labatt’s Cup provincial championship Oct. 1 at Calgary Rugby Park.
The firsts and Nor’Westers split the season series by scores of 50-35 for SARFC May 14 and the memorable see-saw 38-36 decision by the Nor’Westers Aug. 6. It was the first loss for the premier side after 16 consecutive victories against a north team in league and playoffs combined, dating back to August of 2014, including the 28-19 thriller against the Nor’Westers in last year’s Ken Ann Cup final.
The firsts are working toward their eighth provincial final in nine years and the third Labatt’s Cup in a row and fourth in seven years would equal the Hornets’ 2011-13 three-peat.
Registrations are being accepted for the inaugural Turkey Fest 7s at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The Oct. 8-9 competition features men’s, women’s and youth divisions and is structured as an open tournament, so social and elite teams will not be separated.
The tournament will follow a pool structure, with the top two teams advancing to the cup playoff, the third-place teams qualify for the bowl playoff and the fourth-place teams meet in the plate playoff.
Visit www.turkeyfestsevens.com for more information.
