Sherwood Park – The rematch of the playoff preview between the fantastic firsts and the Strathcona Druids will set the stage for the semifinal showdown at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club. The premier men’s teams square-off for the second Saturday in a row leading up to their elimination match in the Alberta Cup playoffs. Kickoff is 4 p.m. at SARFC between the firsts (7-4) and Druids (5-6). SARFC will field a different-looking first 15 lineup after losing to the Druids 25-17 at the Lynn Davies Rugby Park in preparation for the Sept. 16 semifinal between the second and third highest-ranked north teams in the Alberta Cup table. “The players that we get back, the Wolf Pack guys and guys who went away on holidays, they were all very key players to us and that will bring that intensity to another level and the execution to a very big level as well, which I think will make a huge difference and maybe should bring us a big win,” said British import George Harding following the first loss after five consecutive wins by the defending Labatt’s Cup provincial champions. The firsts soldiered on the last two weekends despite the absence of several stars against the Clan (3-8), a gutsy 34-26 come-from-behind decision at Airways Park, and the Druids as a valiant second-half rally fell short of victory. Not available because of Prairie Wolf Pack commitments at the Canadian Rugby Championships in Calgary were scrumhalf Jake Robinson, the 2016 Edmonton Rugby Union senior men’s MVP, forward Kyle Gilmour, the ERU 2009 and 2013 MVP, power-back Adam Bontus and hooker Robert Blunden, a candidate for the team’s most outstanding player award. Heart-and-soul captain Brett Kelly, scoring threat Duncan Maguire and prop Lawrence Ross were also absent both matches. “This is pretty much the same team as last week. We played pretty similarly but today it just wasn’t quite the execution that we wanted,” said Harding, a standoff who switched to scrumhalf in the second half against the Clan and Druids. “From the St. Albert perspective we’re obviously pretty disappointed with the result but considering the circumstances, obviously as a club we’re missing a few players and that was evident, but we don’t judge ourselves on that. We talked about it at the start of the season and Sam (Townsend, the head coach) would echo what I’m saying and that is we judge ourselves on our processes and they just weren’t quite there today. The outcome is not great but the processes weren’t there to bring the outcome home in the first place.” The firsts dug themselves an early hole down 15-0 as the Druids scored three tries by the 28th minute. During that span, the firsts were knocking at the door of the try area on three occasions but were unable to finish from close range. Sloppy tackling in the backs also allowed the Druids’ scrumhalf to gallop to daylight for the second try in the 11th minute. A penalty kick by Harding from outside the 22-metre line ended the first half as a combination of errors, penalties and takeaways haunted the firsts offensively in the opening 40 minutes. The Druids made it 18-3 early in the second half with a penalty kick from outside the 22. After a potential try-saving tackle by Ben Manchester, a U18 junior that was subbed on in the second half for the second match in a row, a splendid effort by Harding on a quick penalty play to evade three tacklers en route to the try area and his conversion left the firsts trailing by eight in the 55th minute. The firsts kept pushing forward but a series of miscues with the Druids’ on their back heels stalled the attack. In the 63rd minute, after a number of scrums inside the 22 and aggressive ball handling by Harding, Matt Jarvis stormed across the try line and Harding’s conversion made it a one-point deficit. However, after the kick-off, a sin-bin infraction to the mild-mannered Aaron Weicker for an iffy horse-collar tackle attempt near the touchline led to an immediate try by the Druids off a lineout and the conversion restored the team’s eight-point lead. “In the second half we got back into the game,” Harding said, “then a couple of decisions probably didn't go our way. “We couldn’t get it back in the last 10 but all you can ask is the lads work hard and that's what we did,” he added. “Our tactical awareness was very good, it was just one of those days in a rugby season where nothing quite went our way. “There were probably things we executed well in the past, we were on a pretty good winning streak, but those things have come off.” With potentially five matches left, including the last-place Irish (1-10) Sept. 9 in Calgary, the third of three against the Druids will determine the Ken Ann Cup north finalist Sept. 23 against the first-place Nor’Westers (10-1) and the winner advances to the Sept. 30 provincial final. The Calgary Hornets (9-2) are the No. 1 south team in the Alberta Cup. “We’ve beaten the Hornets (22-12 was the Hornet’s first loss) so in terms of just the mentality side you know that you can do that and most of the guys I’ve been speaking to have a firm belief we can beat the Nor'Westers despite the recent results, which were very tough to take. A lot of the guys and myself are not used to being on that end of a result,” Harding said of the 57-26 and 51-3 jaw-droppers to Nor’Westers. That’s what we have to look at in terms of how we’re going to beat the team that really essentially took us apart and hopefully we’ll come back strong.” Putting the Druids in their place leading up to the semifinal would set the tone for playoffs. “We’ve just got to approach every game as it comes and work on things in training. I know that’s a very cliché thing that people say but I would like to think I’m on a team where every week they want to go out and win and that’s a firm belief and hopefully that will be evident Saturday,” said Harding, 25. The product of the Verulamians Rugby Football Club, the 2016/17 Herts/Middlesex 1 champions in the London & SE Division with Townsend as the player/coach, arrived at SARFC on the advice of two former British imports with the firsts, Karim Lynch and Simon Gregory. “They gave me a good sense of the level but didn’t quite explain the Canada Caps (for Robinson, Gilmour and Maguire). There are guys here that have international experience so that was a surprise. I wasn’t aware that I was going to come in and play with guys at that level so it’s been really good to learn that from them,” said Harding, who was born in London and hails from Saint Albans, a city in Hertfordshire, England. “I’m really enjoying my rugby here. The weather out here compared to playing back home is excellent. The club feeling around St. Albert is great as well. Everyone is very welcoming and has welcomed me into the club so that's just an enjoyment from a cultural side.” The last two matches have brought out the very best in Harding, especially from a leadership standpoint quarterbacking the firsts without a bunch of regular starters. His kicking abilities, which have come under scrutiny for a lack of consistency and the ability to split the uprights from Ashley Hanson distance, has also shown marked improvement. “I’ve been able to elevate my game. This is the best rugby I’m playing and hopefully that’s evident on the pitch,” said Harding, who had a cup of tea with the University of Birmingham first team which ranks as a career highlight. Joining the historically powerhouse firsts – winners of three straight Labatt’s Cups and four since 2010 while competing in eight of the last nine provincial finals – after a winning season with the Verulamians has inspired Harding to be the best he can be. “We got the first club promotion in 25 years back home so that was really nice to leave on that high and then here in terms of having something to prove, a four peat, which could be pretty special is I guess one of the motivations for me in terms of just an outcome drive and hopefully that is evident.”
