The Labatt’s Cup provincial champions kicked off the second leg in the premier men’s fixtures with a powerful performance on their home pitch.
“We’re going into the second half of the season so it’s a big thing to have a win like that right off the bat,” said the explosive Duncan Maguire, who ignited the fantastic firsts with two scintillating tries in Saturday’s 51-5 thrashing of the Calgary Canucks at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
“Everyone was digging deep and worked their hardest. People stepped up into positions they’re not usually used to playing and that was huge. I think that elevates everyone else too,” Maguire added. “But a big hats off to the coaching staff; they’re doing a lot of work behind the scenes that a lot of guys don’t really realize.”
The firsts rank near the top of the Alberta Cup table at 5-2-1.
“We can always improve on things so everyone is excited to get back to work on Tuesday at training because we still need to get better,” Maguire said. “We still have a lot to work on still like the basics, just simple ball handling errors and heads up play but other than that it’s looking good for us.”
The previous weekend the firsts rallied to tie the Calgary Saints (3-4-1) at 27-all and from all reports it wasn’t vintage SARFC rugby. It was also the first match since the firsts got spanked 41-15 by the visiting Calgary Irish (5-2) June 20.
The Canucks (3-5) were what the doctor ordered to help fix the slumping firsts as they tacked up 31 unanswered points in the first half to seal the deal.
“They were never going to take the game away from us I thought,” said Luke (Aussie) Richardson, the third division captain who was promoted to the firsts to play scrumhalf for the contest. “We started out really strong, although we let off the pedal there in the second half. For 10 to 15 minutes after the halftime break we dwindled a bit (it was 38-0 when the Canucks scored a try in the 65th minute) but once the boys got back on top of things we started to put more points back on.”
Not even a yellow card to player/coach Clay Panga over some dirty deeds late in the first half would slow down the firsts. In fact, they scored off a lineout ball from the five-metre line right before the break with Panga in the sin-bin.
“It was pretty physical by both teams and I think the crowd really enjoyed it. It was definitely entertaining,” said Richardson of the chippy affair that forced the female referee to call several timeouts to lay the law down with both sides.
It took the firsts only nine minutes before Australian import Khaleb Whitehurst dove across the try line as the finisher on a scoring play highlighted by some slick ball movement from a variety of players.
In the 17th minute, Antony Fitch scored and the silky-smooth standoff would later team up with Irish import Matt Sanderson to send Maguire off to the races to make it 17-0 in the 26th minute.
Paul Flynn, the team’s captain for the match, and Sanderson provided Panga with a gift try in the 31st minute and the rout was on.
“I really think it come down to set plays for us today to put points up,” said Richardson, who worked flawlessly in tandem with Fitch to quarterback the offence. “Fitchy at 10 (standoff) is a good dude to have outside of me. I thought we synched together pretty well.”
Teigan White, Jason Gagnier and Sanderson also packed some offensive juice for the firsts, but it was Maguire who shone the brightest. His last try brought back memories when back in the day he was injury free and practically scoring every time he touched the ball.
“Aussie Luke was our MVP today, not me,” said Maguire, a chatty individual who had to be coaxed into doing a post-game interview. “I didn’t really do much today. I just happened to put the ball down a couple of times so all the credit goes to all the backs and the forwards. All I had to do was finish it off.”
It was Maguire’s second match of the season, not counting the Canadian Rugby Championships with the first-place Calgary-based Prairie Wolfpack. Last year in early July the speedy game breaker tore his fibula against the Nor’Westers and was done for the season and unable to continue his national sevens’ career.
“It’s good to be back playing,” said Maguire, 25, who has suffered more injuries than Taylor Hall of the Edmonton Oilers. “I’ve been away for quite some time so I’ve got a lot to work on like my fitness and other things like ball handling and basic skills but I’m all good to go.”
But the feel good story of the match was Richardson, who was more apprehensive about playing scrumhalf with the premier squad than the upcoming birth of his first child.
“I haven’t been this nervous in five or six years to play a game. Nine (scrumhalf) is my normal position and I’m glad to get the opportunity. It was definitely an honour,” said Richardson, 29, a fullback/standoff on the thirds. “It was good to direct the boys around and have them working off me. The forwards really protected me too, which was great.”
SCRUM BALLS: Saturday the second-place thirds (6-3) host the Lep/Tigers (1-7) at 2 p.m.
The firsts scrum down July 30 against the host Nor’Westers (4-3-1) at 7 p.m.
The SARFC U13 boys finished the season at 7-2 for first place in the Edmonton Rugby Union and at provincials Saturday at Ellerslie Rugby Park they defeated the Calgary Canucks 54-24 and in the final lost 33-10 to the Nor’Westers.
