It’s sink or swim for the St. Albert Dolphins in the U21 playoffs.
The knockout round starts Wednesday after the Dolphins and Strathcona Druids closed out league play with a 24-24 stalemate this week at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The result left the Dolphins and Druids tied for second spot at 2-1-1 in the five-team table.
The semifinal kicks-off at 7 p.m. at Lynn Davies Rugby Park in Sherwood Park.
“The key will be getting our backs going,” said standoff Chad Monai-Brophy, sporting a gash on the bridge of his nose after the playoff preview. “Our forwards matched up well with theirs, we just have to focus on our backs’ ball and getting that together.”
The winner advances to the Edmonton Rugby Union final June 22 at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The team to beat is the Clan, undefeated in four matches, including a decisive 33-5 decision against the Dolphins on May 25 at Airways Park.
“That was a tough one. It was a rainy day and we struggled acclimatizing ourselves to the conditions,” Monai-Brophy said.
The majority of the U21 players in the junior circuit also scrum down with their club’s senior teams.
“It’s really good. You get a wide variety of younger and older guys (in junior) and it’s nice to kind of see them come together,” said Monai-Brophy, a contributor to back-to back Labatt’s Cup provincial championships by the SARFC fantastic firsts the last two years.
A wide range of experience was on display on the second field (the SARFC premier pitch is undergoing cosmetic surgery to repair sore spots), which was reflected on the scoreboard. The teams recorded four tries apiece, with the Druids outscoring the Dolphins 12-5 in the second half.
“It kind of went both ways,” said Monai-Brophy, who converted his own try around the 15-minute mark to make it 14-0. “There was definitely some great stuff out there.”
Jesse Shirton, an elusive scrumhalf, opened the scoring and Monai-Brophy added the conversion in the 10th minute off a pick-and-go move in tight of the try line and the Druids shorthanded with a player in the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle.
On the second try, Monai-Brophy dashed through the defence to cap off a strong forward push before the Druids returned to full strength.
Nathan Yue, captain of the Dolphins and an elite-level hooker, steamrolled his way into the try area in the 21st minute as the home team led by 19 after the unsuccessful conversion attempt.
Four minutes later, the Druids roared back with two tries and one conversion before the half ended. The second try came off a strong run following a penalty play in scoring position.
The Druids continued pressing after the break and pulled to within two points with an unconverted try three minutes into the second half.
The Dolphins also racked up a slew of penalties, albeit some of them questionable calls, and didn’t advance past the halfway line until 13 minutes had elapsed, but it was only for a short spell before the Druids put them on the back foot defensively.
“They used their kicking well to put it in our zone and they capitalized on a couple of mistakes, just knock-ons, missed tackles and penalties, stuff like that,” said Monai-Brophy.
The Dolphins gained some traction offensively with about 15 minutes remaining, but had a try upheld after a couple of stabs at scoring. They eventually broke through after a spirited burst down the touchline by Monai-Brophy before flipping the ball inside for Austen McDonald to bully his way to within spitting distance of the try line. After some devilish rucking, the Dolphins swing the ball out to the left and Stephen Badry completed the scoring play with a spurt down the wing for the first try of his career.
The conversion attempt by Monai-Brophy was wide of the posts.
Six minutes later, the Druids drove the field for their second try of the half and the conversion split the uprights to knot it at 24 with two minutes to go.
In the post game huddle, coach Johnny Moloney and the boss of the forwards, and sidekick Duncan Maguire, who is in charge of the backs, focused on the positives instead of the negatives.
“I’m happy, boys. You gave everything you had and more,” Moloney told the Dolphins.
“It was awesome,” Maguire added. “The first 10 minutes were outstanding.”
Monai-Brophy, 20, was also pumping up tires after the team’s performance.
“The boys all-around played a really good game. We had some really good forward and back ball and we started to use the back ball more towards the end,” said 2014 rookie of the year for the firsts and co-recipient of the Fort McMurray RFC Shield U18/19 player of the year in the ERU.
“There were definitely some highlights but we can use some more fluidness in our game, just kind of stringing it all together.”
Regardless of the outcome, inquiring minds were curious why the U21 team is called the Dolphins, much to the chagrin of some old-school SARFC supporters.
“We decided on a team name and the boys had a vote and Dolphins was the winner,” said Monai-Brophy with a mischievous smile.
However, he was more forthcoming about the 28-24 loss by the firsts (1-1) against the Hornets (3-0) last weekend in Calgary as the team’s outside-centre for the second premier match in a row.
“That was a tough one. It was close. Actually, the last play of the game got blown down on their five-metre line but we should’ve capitalized earlier. There were just too many mistakes.”
