Penguins Suffer Tough Loss in Final Home Game

Cover Photo Credit: Melanie Moshi

The Cold Lake Penguins Men’s Rugby Club had their second and final home game of the season on Saturday. The team was looking to build off a couple strong showings, and finally get their first win. St. Albert took advantage of an out of sync Penguins club to win 38-5. The game also featured a tribute to Rick Bailey, a founding member of Penguins Rugby.

Penguins Women’s team defaults

A concern for the Penuins Rugby Club all season has been the lack of players. The Women’s side was scheduled to play on Saturday, but had to default. The move was made due to not being able to field a team.

Tough loss for the Men’s team

The Penguins Men’s team came into the game fresh off a 45-15 loss that played closer than score can indicate. The Men’s team also struggled with numbers, and had guys on 2-week registrations filling in. According to President Dave Brown, the Men’s team took a step back from where they were a week ago. Conditions for the game weren’t the greatest due to heavy rains on Friday morning. The St. Albert side won the game handily 38-5.

“We really struggled to get team cohesiveness, and we struggled with penalties excessively. That really told the story of our game. A]It was a very lopsided score that was indicative of our play. From a management perspective we stepped backwards. We’re trying to reassess on what we have to do different.” Penguins President Dave Brown said of the effort. “We had a lot of sub players that showed up on two-week registrations, that weren’t part of the core for training throughout the year. It was great to have them and they contributed it well, but we didn’t utilize any type of team chemistry or strategy.”

Rick Bailey honoured

Of a significant note, the Penguins honoured Edmonton Rugby Hall of Famer Rick Bailey at Saturday’s game. Bailey passed away in 2009. He was an original founder, and builder of Penguins Rugby.

“It was pretty awesome that the St. Albert club shared in the remembrance with us, and a celebration for Rick.” Dave Brown explained.

Photo Credit: Sean Verheyde