The St. Albert thirds are starting to look terrific again in men's rugby.
The third division team rolled up 59 points against the Nor'Westers while giving up only 19 in Saturday's decisive victory at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The third win of the season in four matches is one more than last year's 2-9 squad after winning the 2015 third division provincial Digby Dinnie Cup as the Edmonton Rugby Union champions.
"I will put a lot of that down to Sam Townsend, our (SARFC men's) coach. He's instilling one club rather than two teams into us," said Andrew (Kiwi) Marsden, an impressive standoff who scored one try and was kicking conversions from all over the pitch with pinpoint accuracy.
"We're all running a very, very similar game plan. For the thirds we've dumbed it down a little bit, just to make it simpler for the guys just coming in but he's purposing making a mix of the old heads with the young guys coming through, putting a sprinkling across the field at all times so the young guys can look to the old guys and ask some questions. It's very much a learning division."
The first of three tries by Matt Herod, a savvy scrumhalf and the best player in the 59-19 contest, was scored in the sixth minute it was followed by tries from Marsden (great hustle off an interception) and Travis Brenneis (wicked wheels running through traffic) as the floodgates opened against Nor'Westers in their season debut.
The thirds posted period leads of 21-0 after the first, 33-5 at halftime and 47-12 after the third.
"It was a good game. We had a lot of guys turn up for this one," said Marsden, noting the thirds were short-staffed in their last match due to early injuries in the 48-12 loss to the Axmen (3-0) in Edson on May 27.
"The boys took it hard last week and used this home game to get back on track," Marsden added. "We had a bunch of young guys coming through today. Ben Miller (a Grade 11 Bellerose Bulldog) played in his first men's game today (at flanker and eight-man). We also had a couple of the same age guys at training Thursday so things are looking up for the thirds. We're a development team for the prems (Alberta Cup premier men) and that's what we're doing here while trying to get some points on the board and execute our game plan.
"Things are on the rise in St. Albert. I know that sounds a little funny to say with three premierships (Labatt's Cups) in a row but as a club we're really looking forward to the future. We're building. If we keep getting these kids out of high school coming through, the world is going to be our oyster."
Some promising young players, as well as the premier-calibre Brad Angove and Luke (Aussie) Richardson, contributed to the scoring spree.
Pat Whitehead, who needed stitches to close a gash in the bottom of his ear while filling in for the thirds in Edson, busted loose for a couple of thunderous runs with several Nor'Westers trying desperately to stop the oldest player on the roster.
Nathan Reis, a blast from the past, is not only coaching the thirds but subbed himself in after the third quarter and instantly got his nose dirty crashing into contact.
Marsden, 33, was playing in his third straight match for the thirds, the longest stretch of active duty in a season since joining the club in 2012.
"I've been throwing in two week memberships here and there. I've played on and off the last two years," said Marsden, who was born in Otago, New Zealand and is still considered an import in the Alberta Rugby Union. "I've never been too far away. I'm always around the club."
Marsden is back where he belongs on the pitch after stints as an Australian Rules Football player in Canada and Mixed Martial Arts (1-2) and Muay Tai (0-1) cage fighter.
"I caught the bug again and it's almost like a rebirth."
Saturday the thirds battle the Pirates (1-2) at 12:30 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The Alberta Schools' Athletic Association Tier 2 championships kick off Friday for the Sturgeon Spirits at the Chestermere and Strathmore high schools.
The Sturgeon men and women scrum down against Strathmore in the quarter-finals.
Visit www.asaa.ca for the link to the championship website for schedules and results.
Both Sturgeon teams are 7-0 as the metro Edmonton division two champions.
The scores in last week's finals were 34-5 for the lady Spirits (357 PF/80 PA) against the Paul Kane Blues (4-2-1, 166 PF/165 PA) and 48-26 for the Sturgeon men (370 PF/120 PA) against the St. Francis Xavier Rams (6-1, 331 PF/120 PA) at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The last time Sturgeon swept the metro rugby finals was 2011 in the premier conference before the merger of the metro and Edmonton public leagues.
The seventh metro banner for the lady Spirits was also the first since their third in a row in 2011 in premier and the Sturgeon men captured their eighth banner and the first since 2015 in division two.
Last year the men's team won the Tier 2 consolation final and two years ago was awarded bronze.
The Lorne Akins Gators were victorious in three out of the four finals at the Great Edmonton Junior High 7s Rugby Championships last weekend at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The Gators swept the Tier 1 male and female championships for the umpteenth time since the tournament's inception in 2012.
The Gators also won the Tier 2 male final for the first time with some last minute overtime heroics.
The Gators defeated the first-year William D. Cut Crusaders in two of the title matches and in the female Tier 2 playoffs knocked off the Sir George Simpson Voyageurs in the semifinals before dropping the final by two tries against an Edmonton team.
More than 20 schools participated in the tournament on a soggy Friday and steamy Saturday.
The St. Albert U15 boys rolled over the Clan 84-5 last weekend in the Edmonton Rugby Union.
Jacob King, Dylan Wilson and Josh Looker were the main scorers.
The previous weekend, St. Albert won the 15-aside season opener 34-29 against the Nor'Westers.
After falling behind 15-0, the team regrouped to level the score before halftime.
The winning points were scored with under three minutes to play.
The last round-robin match before the June 24 city final is next week against the Druids.
