The St. Albert premier men's rugby team is one victory away from their sixth provincial showdown in seven years after completing the first leg in the Ken Ann Cup north playoffs.
The fantastic firsts have their sights set on the Strathcona Druids in the Sept. 27 provincial qualification round after emerging unscathed from Saturday's 47-13 brouhaha against the Nor'Westers. Kickoff is 4 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
"We got to the final and we're going to win it for this club," announced head coach Jo Hull to cheers and whistles in the team's post-game huddle following the north semifinal at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The first 15 are within striking distance of their first Labatt's Cup championship since 2010.
"This is the second of our three building blocks," Hull told the Gazette after the 12th win in 13 matches by the firsts. "We know what we need to do but we're also aware it's a final so we'll be bringing it."
The Edmonton Rugby Union playoff survivor will challenge the Calgary Rugby Union champion – either the Hornets (8-5), winners of three straight Labatt's Cups and four in the last five years, or the Canucks (9-4) – for provincial honours Oct. 4 at Calgary Rugby Park.
"We won't be putting pressure on us but we know what we need to do to win this final," Hull said.
The Druids (8-5) beat up the hapless Clansmen 45-20 in playoff action for a date with the firsts.
The Sherwood Park-based club tagged the firsts with their only loss, a 13-8 defensive gem on Druids Day, July at Lynn Davies Rugby Park.
"They play a lovely brand of rugby. They've got a nice fullback, a good 10 (standoff), some big pack members and they're also part of the Wolfpack (in the Canadian Rugby Championship circuit) as well. They're very, very good," said Irish import Conor Power, the man of the match against the Nor'Westers with two highlight reel tries in the first half. "It's going to be a big final. Any team can beat anybody on any given day, particularly over here. You saw the Nor'Westers come in here and for the first 20 minutes they were probably more dominant than us."
Hull described the Druids as talented and very physical. "They have got some very skilful players and a good back line as well," she said. "We're not really focusing on the opposition too much, we're focusing on us for sure for this final."
Rough play
The firsts secured a spot in their seventh-straight Ken Ann Cup final after falling behind 6-0 early in the dust-up with the Nor'Westers (4-9) before roaring back with 27 unanswered points to lead by 21 at halftime. It was 37-6 when the Nor'Westers cracked the try line in the 63rd minute.
"We were slow out of the blocks. We struggled a little bit for the first 20 minutes but once the guys calmed down a bit we started to get our shape," Hull said. "I asked the guys to turn the screw and that's exactly what they did. We asked them to be really physical and they did. We struggled with that a little bit initially but once we calmed down and got into our game plan we looked like we had control and we completely dominated the game."
The game plan for the Nor'Westers was to push the firsts around the pitch and it rattled the home team.
The Calgary referee was busy maintaining law and order as several skirmishes broke out. Yellow cards for sin-bin infractions were issued to second-row Brian Pendlebury and a Nor'Wester after both teams were hugging it out in front of the jam-packed stands late in the first half and the firsts ahead 27-6, as well as captain Johnny Moloney and a foe over some dirty deeds in the last minute of play.
"It was a very, very tough game. You get a few scores in rugby (like the Nor'Westers did), people drop their heads so you never know what can happen but the boys were digging deep," Power said. "They crashed hard into the line but our boys did well. Bomber (Justin Armitt) and (Adam) Higgins kind of stacked up the middle for us.
"The forward pack again was immense. The pushover tries, the tackling and the rucking was all there. It was pretty good."
Early in the contest, following a Nor'Westers' penalty kick from outside the 40-metre line, standoff Adam Gowing got his bell rung and was replaced by Antony Fitch. The 20-year-old wonderkid went on to kick three penalties and convert the first four of the team's six tries.
After the Nor'Westers made it 6-0 on a penalty from inside the 40, Fitch booted a pair of penalties a few minutes apart from the 22 and inside the 40 to even the score halfway through the opening half and the firsts never looked back.
"Fitch kicked very well coming on like that. Having the confidence in the kicker and building the scoreboard is always nice," Power said. "Once we got the lead we were confident and we pushed on. We started playing with some structure and a bit more composure."
Power runner
Power, 31, put the firsts ahead to stay in the 30th minute with a sensational dash down the right touchline for a try under the posts. The former semi-pro Irishman in his first season with the firsts accepted fullback Shea O'Hallahan's pass without breaking stride from in front of the 20 and in a foot race galloped down the pitch like Secretariat at the Kentucky Derby.
"He's got very good hands so he was able to offload the ball and I kind of anticipated him releasing it to me. I ran straight forward and he gave me a nice ball, right where I wanted it," Power said. "That run definitely tested my fitness though."
The rout was on after flanker Orrin Farries, another young gun on the firsts, finished off a five-metre lineout steal.
Power's second try was another lengthy run that left the Nor'Westers falling over themselves in pursuit of the explosive winger.
"It was a poor kick in the middle and I just turned and saw two guys who were kind of running towards the touchline so I did a little bit of a dummy and even with my old legs I still was able to put some pace together to get to the try line," Power said.
The Nor'Westers were doomed for failure when the firsts subbed on Kyle Gilmour, a national-level performer, at flanker, the belligerent Adam Bontus in the centres and the wily Byron Elliott at eight-man. The trio of standouts dressed as reserves for the tilt. Gilmour and Bontus, a pair of Wolfpack players, relished the opportunity to inflict pain on the Nor'Westers and Elliott scored a nifty try to close out the scoring.
"The big, big part of our success this year is we've got strength in depth in every position," Hull said. "Obviously losing our 10 in the first two minutes of the game was tough but Fitch came on and absolutely stepped up into the role and it was seamless. The fact that we had the bench that we had is a testament to how hard the boys have worked for their position throughout the year and how competitive it is at training. They know they need to perform at training and in games to be on that starting 15 but we're also very aware now that it's about the 22 (man playoff roster) and not just the 15."
Fitch's penalty kick from outside the 22 early in the second half padded the lead to 30-6 and Higgins and Moloney generated tries with spirited efforts in the last home game of the season for the firsts.
"I'm incredibly proud of you boys," Hull told the players as the fans applauded their performance with a ringing endorsement. "The city final is the next job and we will be focused and prepared for what we need to do."
