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Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2007 49 Opening Day PHOTOS BY BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER BASEBALL'S BACK: Oakville Little League began its 2007 house league season last weekend. Pictured in major action at Cornwall Park are (left to right) the Cardinals' Christopher McKay sliding into third base, the Blue Jays' Justin Murfitt smiling while donning a rally cap, and the Orioles' Michael Brooks snagging a pop-up. The Oakville Minor Baseball Association will open its house league season tomorrow at parks throughout the town. OT rugby tradition is motivation, not burden, for players With enough searching, it isn't difficult to find what drives the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils rugby teams. If you go to the team's website, click on the hall of fame and scroll past the five Devil alumni who have gone on to play for Canada's national team, past the six former or current Devil junior national team members, down to the very bottom of the screen, you will find it -- nine words that sum up OT's motivation. "The legacy you face is tougher than any opposition." For a team that outscored its rivals 385-20 last year -- including a 54-0 whitewash of the T.A. Blakelock Tigers in the Halton final -- on its way to a perfect 7-0 season, the Devils could be forgiven for letting their minds wander at times. But the school's remarkable rugby tradition prevents that from happening. Last year marked OT's 35th Halton championship in the last 36 years and, each year, the Devils don't want to be the team that didn't win. "That pressure is always there," said OT coach David Schaffler, "but the kids don't have a problem with it. They draw from it." In fact, it is that success that draws the players to the team. "I knew OT was good at rugby and I wanted the chance to play on a team like that," said Tom Labenski, who had two trys in each of the Devils' first two victories. Like the vast majority of his teammates, Labenski, now in his third season with the senior squad, was a newcomer to the sport in Grade 9. Inexperience has never been a problem at OT, though. The Devils roll on, no matter how much turnover there is each year. While athletes in other sports such as baseball, soccer, basketball and hockey arrive already knowing how to play the game, that's not the case with rugby. "Ours is the exact opposite," Schaffler said. "The onus is on the high school to teach them the game." And OT has done that very well over the years. Current Devils flyhalf Chris Dickenson, who scored three trys in a 58-0 win over White Oaks, is the latest Devil to play for Canada as a member of the national under-17 team. But while OT's players come in as novices, the team's history is such a drawing card that rugby is the sport of choice at the school. "All the best athletes want to play rugby," Labenski said. "I don't know if that happens at other schools." There is enough demand for the sport that the school fields three teams -- the senior and junior squads as well as a Grade 9 team. The latter helps players learn the game and polish their skills without having to compete for a spot and playing time on the junior team, which with its almost exclusively Grade 10 lineup has won seven straight Halton championships. That experience carries into the senior ranks. The Halton league was divided into two tiers to make for more competitive games this season, but there's really an unspoken third upper tier -- and the Devils are the only team in it. Case in point: Notre Dame is traditionally the Devils' biggest rival. The Fightin' Irish is the only team to disrupt OT's title run with a one-point victory in the 2000 final. And last year, Notre Dame was the only Halton team to score in double figures against OT. But the Irish, though it held its ground in the first half, proved to be no match for the Devils in its season-opening 38-3 loss. "We're not a physically big team but the guys work hard at their skill level and they absorb a lot of punishment," Schaffler said. While OT has inflicted its share of punishment in Halton, it hasn't claimed an OFSAA championship since winning its second of backto-back titles in 1984. A big part of that is another rugby powerhouse. Stoney Creek's Saltfleet, the 2005 provincial champion which has already beaten the Devils in pre-season play, has long been a thorn in the Red Devils' side and stood in their path beyond Halton. www.icesports.com 905-845-6989