The Prairie Land Penguins rugby team is heading to provincials after a conniving win at zones.
The team, coached by Delia teacher Shaun Fielding, has players from Delia, Hanna, and Youngstown. They have been having a great season competing in sevens.
At zones on May 22, they competed against Oilfield and won 22-nil, and then beat Olds 25-5 in pool play.
Their two opponents faced off and tied, forcing them to play a tiebreaker. Olds won, putting them up against the Penguins in the final.
We were quite lucky in that they were gassed,” said Fielding. “We won the final 37- nil.”
“What impressed me the most about zones was the spirit it was played in, it was like how rugby was supposed to be played.”
The team spent the season playing exhibition games and also competed in a few tournaments, including a large tournament at the Calgary Rugby Union. There were 72 teams playing.
The Penguins have been around for about three years, but this is the first year they have introduced provincials.
“This year we are getting our name out there more, and hopefully, just by the process of osmosis we’ll get more games with bigger schools,” he said.
He adds the team excels at playing sevens.
“They prefer the wide open spaces, it is less technical and is based on athletic ability. We have a couple of quick ones, we have some basketball players who have good spatial awareness and good handling skills and we have some hockey players who like the physicality, so it is a nice little blend,” he said.
He has seen the interest take off. In their first year, a good result was to get 10 players out. Now a practice has about 26 players.
Because this is the first year of provincials he doesn’t know what the competition will look like, however, he is looking forward to the tournament in St. Albert on May 31 and June 1.
“All the emphasis is on fun. If we win, fantastic, but it is just all about going, throwing the ball about and having a good time,” he said.
