An 0-2 start is definitely not where the St. Albert seconds would like to find themselves, but that is the exact position they are in to start the season.
After finishing last season in the Edmonton Rugby Union in second place for the third straight year, the home team looked to enter rebuild mode. With an opening day 32-3 loss to the Clansmen, St. Albert was hoping to rebound. Instead they found themselves three points short on the scoreboard Friday night at Ellerslie, losing 21-18 to the Edmonton Druids.
While St. Albert barely lost Friday’s night’s game, the seconds’ Frank Lucas believes his team was not in the right mindset right from beginning.
“We were a little disorganized. We didn’t really have a lot of people, so it’s a bit tough putting a decent game together. Also weeknight games are always tough,’ said Lucas.
An area of the seconds’ game that appeared weak on Friday was their back line, but Lucas is confident the entire team has areas to work on.
“We need to improve everywhere basically. We need to have more confidence in our set plays so we can be more consistent. Our back line just needs to organize themselves better,” said Lucas
Even though the seconds lost Friday’s game by three points, St. Albert has been outscored 53-21 in their first two games of the season. The lack of offensive production through the first two matches can be attributed to an absence of game plan execution, according to team back Brad Angove.
“We didn’t stick to our game plan very well and we were more worried about the penalties laid against us by the referee,’ said Angove. “It just seemed that every time we took five steps forwards, we took 10 steps back. We just didn’t gel very well.”
Following the game plan will take some time to learn, according to Angove, as the team has added fresh faces to the squad following the departure of key veterans. With the first couple of games already in the books, the seconds should display a better all-around game heading into their next match.
“It’s all about consistency. Just getting the same guys flowing together and making sure we are all on the same game page,” said Angove. “We have a lot of new faces, we are a young team and we are starting to develop. We are waiting for imports to come over that will fill in important positions.”
The seconds will hit the pitch next on June 11 against the Knights in Fort McMurray.
