The demise of St. Albert’s super 15 has been greatly exaggerated.
After three stunning losses, the defending premier men’s provincial champions pulled themselves from the depths of despair while raising their record to .500 in the Alberta Cup table.
Saturday’s 36-3 overwhelming show of force against the Calgary Canucks marked the first victory against a team with a winning record.
“It’s a good showing, a team builder for sure,” man of the match Adam Bontus said after racking up two tries against the overmatched Canucks at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club. “It was a slow start, slower than we like, but now we’ve got our full line-up in. We’re starting to build and practice together. We’re starting to roll and should be better from here on in.”
The rematch of the 2010 premier final also boosted the firsts to within four points of second spot.
“Getting a win against the team we beat in the final last year pulls ourselves back up into the league,” said Bontus, who scored an insurance try in the 33-17 rout of the Canucks in the provincial showdown. “I’m sure they wanted a bit of redemption after last year so it’s good to send them home unhappy on a three-hour bus ride.”
The firsts didn’t look like a .500 team while beating up the Canucks.
“We’re 3-3 but by the end of the season we won’t be a .500 team. We’re building to be more than a .500 team. That’s our goal,” Bontus said.
A provincial repeat is high on the team’s priority list, as well as a top four finish in league play and home field advantage in the Sept. 17 quarter-finals.
“We want to win and we put pressure on ourselves to do it,” Bontus said. “We want to repeat and if we don’t we’ll be upset.”
Three losses were three too many for the 2008 and 2009 pennant winners and provincial finalists. The firsts are 42-9-1 overall in premier after capturing the 2007 second division provincial crown.
“It’s definitely tough losing games. The first two games [losses of 29-17 against the Strathcona Druids and 25-20 against the Clansmen] I thought we could’ve won them,” Bontus said. “It’s tough losing like that even though we’ve got good players and we’ve got the coaching and everything else that can produce wins. We’ve just got to be confident in ourselves and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’ve got to keep training hard twice a week and do what we can to prepare for every Saturday.”
The firsts turned in a near flawless performance against the Canucks. The outcome was never in doubt after speedster Duncan Maguire scored in the seventh minute. The hyper winger leads the firsts in tries and has arguably been their most valuable player this season.
“We scored early, got off to a good start and we stuck to the game plan. Forwards did their jobs. Backs did their jobs,” said Bontus, the recipient of the most improved player award on the firsts last year.
The former junior B enforcer with the St. Albert Merchants is a power back with deceptive speed. His physicality is another strong point. The Canucks had a tough time keeping him under wraps.
“It’s a team game. It’s not me, it’s my teammate who make me look good,” said the high school rugby product of the St. Albert Skyhawks.
Jake Robinson and impressive newcomer Matt Jarvis also scored tries. A team try added to the point totals. Matt Herod was 3-for-6 kicking conversions.
Up next for the firsts are the surprising Lep/Tigers (3-2) July 16 in St. Albert. The traditional doormats in premier have already won more games than last year when they finished 1-9-1.
“They’re a good team this year. They have been in the past a lower team in the division but they’ve got some new players just like everyone else does. We’ve got to treat them as a top quality team in the league because any team can win in this league. We’ll shoot ourselves in the foot if we don’t prepare properly for them,” said Bontus, 25.
