The day of reckoning for the premier men’s rugby team is Saturday’s revenge match with the Nor’Westers.
Kickoff is 4 p.m. against the Labatt’s Cup provincial champions at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
Last year the two worst losses for the first 15 in the modern era (2007-present) of the St. Albert Rugby Football Club were administered by the Nor’Westers: 57-26 at SARFC and two weeks later 51-3 in the rain and wind on their home pitch.
“They’re the class of the league if you’re going off last year,” said prop Angus (Gus) MacDonald of the 13-2 Nor’Westers who are 3-0 (118 PF/53 PA) in the Alberta Cup fixtures this season.
“It’s important to come into it knowing that they can be beat and we’ll challenge them,” MacDonald added. “They’re definitely beatable but you've got to knock the top team off.”
The firsts are 2-1 (87 PF/86 PA) after Saturday’s 32-24 praiseworthy performance against the Bow Valley Grizzlies (2-1, 141 PF/72 PA) at SARFC.
Last year the season ended in dismay at 9-5 after the astonishing 23-13 outcome by the Strathcona Druids (7-8) in the north semifinal pumped the brakes on SARFC’s hallowed three Labatt’s Cups in a row and nine consecutive appearances in the Ken Ann Cup north final for provincial qualification.
“To me this was the most important game this season. The last time we were on our home field we were really disappointed with our result. We felt we let ourselves down and we let our fans down,” said MacDonald of the darkest day for the firsts after SARFC rejoined the premier ranks in 2008. “For the first game at home we really wanted to make a mark on the season that this is the church and this is where we play and no one comes in here without a loss.”
Rebuilding SARFC to its former club and a half status in the men’s ranks is starting to take shape with the firsts after eight trips in nine years to the premier final included the historic first Labatt’s Cup celebration in 2010.
“There is a nice buzz around the club about positivity and the boys are working for each other,” MacDonald said. “Last year left a sour taste in our mouth and that was the first time in what 10 years that we hadn't been in the big game and because of that the boys are starting to get tight again. We want to be positive and work with each other and it keeps snowballing every week starting right at training. The first training session we were all bagged. Jeremy (Kyne, the fifth head coach of the SARFC men’s program in five years) is running us through all this fitness and now we’re doing the fitness but we’re grabbing each other and we’re working for each other and that's exactly what you want for the first div and club wide, everyone is coming out which is good.”
The firsts showed marked improvement against Bow Valley after dumping the Clan (2-2, 81 PF/100 PA) 31-19 in the May 26 season opener at Ellerslie and the 43-24 loss to the Rams (3-1, 149 PF/108 PA) June 2 in Calgary.
“We’re trying to be a fitness based team so it seems over time with training going on we’re getting more and more fit as we go,” said Jordan Tait, a newcomer from Westshore Rugby Football Club in Victoria who filled in exquisitely at scrumhalf after patrolling the wing against the Clan and Rams.
“The travel to Calgary was a rough one. We weren't expecting how well of a team they were,” Tait said. “It was a very forward based game. They had a lot of strong runners up front and kind of put us on our back foot so it’s something well have to work on, just kind of doubling up on the tackles and kind of getting the ball isolated off them.”
Bow Valley, a premier newbie after winning last year’s Lor-Ann Cup division two provincial final, gave the firsts a stiff test.
“We knew they were going to be a bunch of big boys and we expected them to come in very hard and we were hoping to gas them on the outside and over time it seemed to work,” Tait said. “It was nice actually to have the home crowd, that helped a lot having that cheering behind us and backing us. It really kind of brought us together.”
The firsts rolled up 22 unanswered points in the first half on two tries by Tait as the finisher off robust ball movements by the team, plus a penalty kick from in front of the posts on the 22-metre line and two conversions, and Nathan Yule also crossed the try line as Adam (Snowy) Gowing, Austin Mazzolini and Adam Bontus produced key plays to keep the drive going the distance.
With seven minutes left in the half, Bow Valley generated a converted try as the scorer waltzed in untouched with the firsts caught flat-footed.
The half ended with the visitors nailing the upright on a penalty kick from outside the 22-metre line after Tait was yellow carded for a tackle that was “a little late and a little high” by the SARFC man of the match.
“The first half really set us up well. We played to our structure, we tried to use our fitness and tried to run the ball as much as we could and use it into space,” said MacDonald, a beast with the ball on Tait’s second try as the William D. Cuts School teacher plowed up the yardage on pulverizing runs before and after Mazzolini and Robert Blunden took turns pushing Bow Valley on its back heel on the lengthy scoring play. “The second half we fell a little short and let them come back but it was nice to have that cushion from the first half to do well."
In the fist minute of the second half, and the firsts in front 22-7, Bontus displayed Duncan Maguire calibre speed in chasing a soccer-style kick down field while pressured from behind and then turned the corner for a run with pace that ended with his body splattered into the pitch at midfield.
Less than a minute later, Cam Larson was yellow carded over some nastiness and joined Tait in the sin bin behind the posts in the Bow Valley try area.
Bow Valley produced only one try with the firsts two men short and with 11 minutes in the half Tait returned to the pitch with the score 22-12.
Four minutes later, Copper Kenda, a junior B hockey player with the Morinville Jets, capped off a lineout ball by the firsts at the Bow Valley five-metre line and Larson looking on from the sin bin.
“We conceded very little points and it was a very good by the boys to bring it together and hold up while down two players,” Tait said. “We lost a little composure in the second half but it felt great to come together and get the home win in front of everyone.”
With Larson back in action, the teams swapped tries and Cooper’s second of the afternoon made it 32-19 with under 10 minutes remaining.
“We had guys stepping up all over the place. We had young Coops (at outside centre) get his first cap and he had a hell of a game. He was just crushing it out there,” said MacDonald, 30.
Tait, 26, was also a striking figure as the Mission, B.C. product looked like the second coming of Jake Robinson quarterbacking the team.
On the advice of former player/coach Clay Panga of the firsts and other SARFC alumni on the Sunshine Coast, Tait decided after two years in Victoria “to come out here for the summer so I jumped in the car and put everything I had in it" and now he is a major cornerstone of the new-look firsts.
“The club atmosphere itself is really good, I've never dealt with a crowd this big in front of everyone,” said Tait, normally a standoff or fullback who cut his teeth at scrumhalf while filling in at that position for five games with Westshore. “As a group it’s quite nice. They’re a very cohesive bunch. They come together quite well. They mesh really nicely and a lot of young guys are coming up and filling in the gaps like Cooper and (Mazzolini). They did a very good job and stepped up really well.”
