Ellerslie Rugby Park – The latest setback for the St. Albert Rugby Football Club was the second division men’s team defaulting Saturday’s match against the Lep/Tigers.
It comes on the heels of the club pulling the plug on the third division team after a 1-1-1 start.
The premier men have also struggled through a disappointing 3-5 Alberta Cup campaign.
“It’s just a cycle we’re going through right now,” said forward Eric Wynychuk, a jack-of-all-trades club veteran as the oldest active player at age 45. “It’s somewhat reminiscent of 1996 going into ’97. We ended up just dropping everything and all we had was a thirds’ team. We ended up winning provincial thirds (in 1997) and then from there we started building again.”
Lower than expected player memberships needed to properly field three competitive men’s teams led to the thirds’ demise. A new online registration process mandated by Rugby Canada also had repercussions, as players had to pay up front before stepping onto the pitch instead of working out a payment plan with their club if they were in a financial bind.
Injuries also took their toll on the club’s depleting talent pool.
As well, there are no home matches this season as reclamation work continues at the club’s Leading Edge fields.
However, the club’s junior program is thriving. The U17s and U19s are both undefeated as they challenge for the ERU and Alberta Rugby Union titles.
“We have all these kids coming up so it’s looking good,” said Wynychuk, who rucks and mauls like a teenager in his 29th season of rugby.
The seconds are 3-5 after losing five points because of defaulting and have dropped to near the bottom of the eight-team table. The Lep/Tigers (8-3) are challenging the Nor’Westers (8-0) for top spot.
Despite defaulting because of no front row, the seconds still had enough players for a 45-minute scrimmage with uncontested scrums against the Lep/Tigers. The score was 14-0 at halftime and 31-7 overall for the guys in green.
Kyle Sheehan, a high school product of the Sturgeon Spirits, scored the only try for the seconds on a run from inside the halfway line on a play orchestrated by Kiefer Hagen.
“Everybody got their heads into it. Our back line ran really well when we got the ball to them and they made great yards. We got a try too so it’s all happiness,” Wynychuk said.
The seconds assembled a collection of players who saw action with the firsts, seconds or thirds this season, plus some recent high school graduates from the junior ranks.
“This is the core group of guys that's been out to training, who make the games and make the commitment. I’m proud of them. These guys are the future of the club and to see them coming through and playing through the adversity that we’re experiencing this year is great,” Wynychuk said.
The seconds will regroup to tackle the LA Crude (5-2-1) Saturday at 2 p.m. in Leduc.
The teams meet again Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. at Ellerslie.
SCRUM BALLS: The first 15 suffered their seventh-straight loss to the Calgary Hornets on Saturday, but the 34-28 setback in Calgary was much closer than last month’s 58-10 blowout at Ellerslie.
The Hornets (6-1), winners of three of the last four Labatt’s Cup provincial finals, are second only to the Calgary Saints (7-1) in the premier rankings.
The firsts and the Clansmen (3-5) share third spot.
All three wins by the firsts have been against teams below them in the standings – 57-3 and 54-17 against the winless Calgary Irish and 37-17 against the Calgary Canucks (1-6).
Saturday the firsts and Saints dance at 4:30 p.m. at Lynn Davies Rugby Park in Sherwood Park.
Last month against the Saints the firsts gassed a 25-19 halftime lead and lost 40-25 in Calgary.
