Sign up for the paNOW newsletter

Whiskey Jacks celebrate first provincial championship

Sep 17, 2018 | 9:00 AM

The Prince Albert Whiskey Jacks one-upped themselves this year.

They won the Sask Rugby Division II Senior Men’s Provincial championship over the Regina Condors 50-24 on Saturday in Regina. That comes one year after the Whiskey Jacks won the North Sask Div. II league over the Saskatoon Badgers.

After the Whiskey Jacks won the provincials, the coaches and founders of the team joked about the rather hesitant talks they had at head coach Dominic Elsbury’s place about if they wanted to form the team.

“We were laughing last night when we were talking in Dom’s basement [four years ago] about should we try to do this? Should we not? But here we are,” Whiskey Jacks coach and player Darcy Murphy said.

Murphy said the Whiskey Jacks dominated from the get-go. They found themselves up 12-0 before they knew it after two quick tries and carried on from there.

“We went down there with team tactics and strategy,” Murphy said. “All the players bought in, everybody knew their role, knew their position and knew their plays. We went in there with P.A. rugby. P.A. rugby is smart, tough, fast and aggressive and we put them on their heels right away.”

All of the try scoring was done from the Whiskey Jacks backs. The flying Fijians in Tuks Ratuki and Pelasio Vereakula each had a hat trick of tries, with Kevin Mageto and Tristen Franc also finding pay dirt.

Although Murphy said the backs were “fantastic,” he credited the forward pack for getting the ball in the first place and putting the backs in good positions to score.

“They wouldn’t be able to score if it wasn’t for our forward play,” Murphy said. “I really believe that our forwards won that game for us. Yeah, Tuks and Pele are outstanding players, but if our forwards aren’t winning and owning the ball for us, they wouldn’t have that opportunity.”

Five years ago, none of this was possible.

For a while, there was only a high school rugby program in Prince Albert — the Saskatchewan Rivers Dragons that Mark McElligott and Paul Roy founded a decade-and-a-half ago. There wasn’t a men’s program until the Whiskey Jacks took to the field in 2015.

“It was always a goal to have a men’s team. When Mark and Paul started the high school boys’ team 16 years ago, the goal was to evolve and grow rugby in the community,” Murphy said. “Those two guys set out with a plan and four years ago, all the stars lined up. We had the right people, we had enough people and now we’re here.”

The Whiskey Jacks went through a growing pain or two. They lost their first four games before rattling off four wins in their opening year. Then they went through some sophomore slumps of sorts before their league winning season last year and now, being crowned provincial champions.

 

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW