Playing third division men’s rugby in St. Albert is a now badge of honour instead of an act of futility.
The surprising thirds are challenging for a playoff spot in the Edmonton Rugby Union with four wins in five matches after going 5-8 last year and 4-9 in 2010.
“People want to come out and work hard and play for the third team. We’ve got a winning record for the first time [since 2009] and it’s exciting,” said hooker Stephen Ignace. “We’re a great team. We’ve got more pride and swagger in our step now. We’re going to take that and roll forward.”
Wednesday the thirds pounded the Leduc Crude 46-19 in front of their hometown supporters at the Leading Edge Fields.
“When we come out on top it’s a lot fun,” Ignace said. “Our fans are coming out to support us a little bit more and we really appreciate it.”
The thirds fielded basically a U19 line-up with a sprinkling of battle-scarred veterans.
“It’s a good nucleus. The young kids are learning from the older guys and those guys are learning from the younger kids on how to keep up with them,” said Ignace, 32. “We just throw a little leadership in there, give the younger kids some pointers and play straight up simple rugby: tackling, run with the ball, support the players and score the ball.”
Devin Donnelly opened the scoring in the 18th minute after grunt work by Jared McKinnon and captain Eric Wynychuk willed the thirds into scoring range.
High school standout Robert Blunden ran wild for two tries and his cheeky behind the back pass to James Brown led to another try five minutes into the second half to make it 29-12.
Eighteen-year-old twins Cole and Dylan Corcoran also scored tries. Cole motored into the try area two minutes after Leduc (2-5) pulled off a chip-and-chase for a converted try to lead 12-10. Dylan, a second-half sub, was on the receiving end of a Blunden pass to end the game.
Ignace kicked two short penalties and converted five tries.
“We battled hard, had a great work ethic and ran our faces off,” said Ignace, a third-year St. Albert player from Niagara Falls.
The thirds are back on the pitch next Saturday against the Riggers (3-1). Kickoff is 2 p.m. in Drayton Valley.
SCRUM BALLS: St. Albert wrapped up the ERU spring league women’s fixtures with Wednesday’s 39-17 loss to the Pirates (3-5) at the Leading Edge Fields. At halftime the Pirates led 22-12.
Last weekend St. Albert suffered a 104-0 drubbing by Lep/Tigers Black (7-2) at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The spring league tournament determines the teams for the Alberta premier division and ERU second division.
St. Albert was outscored 466 to 99 while going 1-8. Last year’s record was 2-2 in the second division after a 0-7 showing in the spring league.
