If history repeats itself, the St. Albert women’s first 15 will struggle on the premier pitch this year.
The last attempt at performing at the highest level of rugby in Alberta was a winless effort in 2006.
“I was on the team that year we moved into premier. That was so brutal,” recalled hooker Zara Dowie at Monday’s training session at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The 22-year-old hooker is confident the firsts will be competitive against the best of the best when the women’s fixtures are tentatively slated to kick off next Saturday at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
“We’re not going to be a last place team,” she declared. “If we go into premier the same way we played last year, we’ve definitely got a fighting chance that’s for sure.”
Last year the Blues, one of two St. Albert teams in the Edmonton Rugby Union’s (ERU) second division, captured the triple crown as the pennant winners (10-1), playoff champions and provincial gold medallists while going 13-1 overall.
The provincial victory — a default 20-0 score when the final was called in the 19th minute when Lethbridge ran out of healthy bodies (only 11 players dressed) with the Blues up 24-0 — was the third Alberta Rugby Union title in the history of the women’s program after consecutive championships in 2004 and 2005.
“We had an amazing season,” said Dowie, the team’s co-captain and the recipient of the most effort/least recognition award. “We did have players that were amazing but we all played so well as a team. It wasn’t one person that won it last season for us; it was like we all won last season.”
The firsts make their return to premier without mainstays Kendra Fiddler (maternity leave), Michelle Marler and Kelsey Ayton (work commitments) and import Audrey Park from Chemainus, B.C.
Newcomers include premier players from the Clanswomen and Rockers, with those two teams not playing in the first division this year.
“We have one player coming into the backs, Marlene [Nedved from the Clan], and that’s going to make a big difference. She is a good player,” said Dowie, a member of the gold-medal winning U23 Alberta squad at the 2009 National Women’s League Championships in St. Albert.
Club veteran Kristy Klyne (nĂ©e Brow) is back in the fold after having a baby girl. Some high school grads that didn’t play last year have committed to the upcoming season.
Among several notable returnees is outside-centre Amanda Lalonde, the Blues’ most valuable player and top scorer, and prop Stacie Becker. Both played for Canada at the four-team U20 Nations Cup last summer in England.
St. Albert will still maintain a team in the ERU’s second division, despite a lower than expected turnout for outdoor training. University exams have also impacted player numbers.
“We need more people at training. I don’t know if it’s just school or whatever, but we haven’t had a lot of girls out for training. I’m hoping that this week will be better,” Dowie said.
For the fourth straight year Cory Albrecht is in charge of the women’s program. He estimates 65 per cent of the players from his first year as head coach in 2007 will play this year.
“It’s going to be a higher level at premier but we have enough experience with this team right now to be competitive. We’ve been playing together now for four years [under Albrecht’s tutelage] and we’re more confident than that year we moved into premier. That year we lost so many players that we really had no experience. I was a high school kid and we had other high school kids and we were just kind of thrown in. This year we’re definitely not going to go in like that at all,” said Dowie, a high school product of the Bellerose Bulldogs. “Premier is just a name, right? You’re still going to play your hardest regardless of what division you’re in.”
While the schedules for premier and the second division have yet to be posted, Dowie and her teammates are playing the waiting game for the first division season to officially start.
“Even though we don’t know exactly how the fixtures are going to be right now, we’re all pretty excited but kind of apprehensive about it as well,” she said. “It will be interesting to see how our team matches up.”
