Pride is on the line today for St. Albert’s premier men’s rugby team against the reigning Labatt’s Cup provincial champions.
Kickoff is 4 p.m. between the first 15 and the Calgary Hornets at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The firsts are an inconsistent 2-3 for fourth place in the Alberta Cup fixtures, and both triumphs were against the winless Calgary Irish by scores of 57-3 in Leduc and 54-17 in Calgary.
The third-place Hornets are 3-1 after losing 23-12 to the surprisingly tough Strathcona Druids (4-0) last weekend.
“You always want to measure yourself against the champions. That's what everyone wants to do. You want to see how you fare up,” said forward Byron Elliott, prior to Tuesday’s training session at Wild Rose Elementary School field. “I’m looking forward to it and I think most of the boys are as well.”
A five-game winless stretch against the Hornets includes the 2009 provincial final that derailed St. Albert’s 13-game undefeated season and the 2011 championship confrontation that wiped out an 11-game winning streak by the firsts.
“Playing the reigning champions for two years in a row is a good measuring stick,” Elliott said of the Hornets, who knocked off the Clansmen 25-10 for the 2012 provincial title. “They’re still a good side. We’ve heard about their prep through the winter and they invested a lot of time and money into that.”
Last weekend in Calgary the firsts let the lead slip away in the second half of the 40-25 loss to the first-place Saints (4-1).
“We ran out of gas. They started to use the wind to their advantage and we had some defensive lapses and let them in. They had a couple of soft tries,” Elliott said.
The first half ended with the firsts on top 25-19.
“The first half we dominated everything; possession, pressure and we made the breaks and scored tries. We had the wind behind us too so we used it well for good field placement,” Elliott said. “There were a few defensive lapses like letting them around the outsides. We kind of gave them space, like pinching in on the outsides, but we’re still in a good position going into halftime.”
It was the third match in three days for a men’s program (seconds lost 24-23 to the Pirates and the thirds tied LA Crude 22-all) already rail thin because of injuries and shortage of players.
Elliott, 29, replaced captain Brett Kelly, who played despite multiple injuries, at eight-man with 20 minutes remaining. It was Elliott’s first taste of action since hurting his left ankle injury in the first half of the season-opening loss 29-17 loss to the Clan (1-2) at Ellerslie.
“It’s been devastating,” admitted the lanky Brit from Doncaster. “I’m not fit. I was gassed. When you have that much time off it’s hard getting match fit. It’s a different kettle of fish. You can be athletically fit but not game fit.”
The season debut marked Elliott’s return to the St. Albert line-up after red tape immigration issues kept him grounded at home following his MVP-caliber performance in 2009 with 22 tries, including a pair in the provincial final against the Hornets.
“It’s tough being injured, especially with some of the new faces here. There is good competition around so you want to put yourself out there,” said Elliott, who busted his jaw in the 2008 quarter-final win over the Irish and missed the first of four consecutive trips to the provincial final by the firsts.
Elliott suffered a double whammy the following week after the Clan match by injuring his right ankle at work.
“Yeah, I’ve been buggered,” he said. “I got here in October at the end of last season, so I had to go through the long winter building (up my fitness) just to play rugby and then I play half an hour and I’m crooked.
“It’s not so bad in the winter because no one else is playing, but when you’re watching everybody else play it’s just so frustrating because everyone else is hitting people and you can’t. You’re just standing on the sideline, so just to even be back training is awesome.”
The firsts need Elliott on the pitch if they have any hope of upsetting the Hornets and the former standout for the Wheatley Hills Rugby Union Football Club believes he is good to go.
“It got to the point where my physio said I can play, just tape them up. After the game on Saturday, after my 20 minutes, they were no worse so I’m taking that as a positive,” he said. “I’ll just strap them up and I’ll keep playing until the end of the season. Hopefully I get to the end of the season or until it blows up completely.”
SCRUM BALLS: Today at Ellerslie the St. Albert women battle the Rockers (0-4) at 12:30 p.m. in the Edmonton Rugby Union’s first division spring league.
St. Albert is 0-4 after Wednesday’s 67-0 loss to Crude/West (2-3) at Ellerslie.
At 2:15 p.m. the second division men (2-2) scrum down against the Fort McMurray Knights (1-3).
At 5:30 p.m. the U17 boys play the Edson Axmen.
