The fantastic firsts piled up 52 points in their second blowout in a row against a Calgary club in premier men's rugby.
The Labatt’s Cup provincial champions also raised their record to 4-1 in Saturday's 35-point margin of victory against the unlucky Irish (0-4) at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club after the 30-point rout of the Saints (1-4) the weekend before in Calgary.
“It’s great confidence for us to have the record that we do have but we’re really just focusing ahead and constantly working in training for the next game and just really focusing towards the playoffs,” said vice-captain Jake Robinson, who scored the first of the team’s eight tries against the Irish six minutes into the 52-17 win.
Only the Calgary Hornets (5-0), who beat the firsts 28-24 in controversial fashion from a SARFC perspective last month in the Cow Town, sport a better record than the provincial winners the last two years.
“It’s looking really good but we’ve got a few kinks to work out yet,” said Robinson, when asked if the firsts are in good shape for a three-peat playoff run. “We haven’t really had a very consistent team so far. There has been a few key players that are missing from game to game but once we come together in training and get a more consistent lineup on the field we’ll really link together. We’ve got a lot of strong players and our depth is looking great too, especially in the backs where we’ve got a lot of deep talent.”
Penalties were a larger problem than the Irish, especially in the first half as the firsts rolled up only 21 unanswered points at the break.
It was 28-0 when the standoff for the Irish converted his try seven minutes into the second half and a few minutes later kicked a penalty from outside the 22-metre line to trim the deficit to 18 points.
After the brief Irish scoring spree, the firsts ratcheted up the attack as Justin (Bomber) Armitt finished off a lengthy run down field by his teammates, with Duncan Maguire doing most of the heavy lifting with the ball, in the 57th minute.
Lucas Albornoz (off a ruck close to the try line) and Adam Bontus (tremendous acceleration into the try area) followed with tries that were converted by Antony Fitch, who was banging the ball all over the pitch from Ashley Hanson distance while going 6-for-8 on conversions.
The second Irish converted try by their standoff was recorded in the 73rd minute and the match ended with Maguire handing the ball to Aaron Weicker to rattle off a scoring run.
Head coach Si Culley was impressed how the firsts maintained their focus after the brief point run by the Irish early in the second half.
“For you to come through that and returned to how we played in the first half and bury them at the end of the second half was outstanding. We never compromised our style of play, we kept on trying to play rugby and we simplified that in the last 20. We were much more direct. Our support play was superb. We were blowing breakdowns to bits and the tempo lifted. We just need to learn to start and maintain that through the first half because we could’ve buried them in the first 30 minutes,” Culley told the players in the post-match huddle.
“They worked really hard and were very fit and really put a shift in and some of our forwards particularly were outstanding today in terms of the work to suck the energy out of them and that freed up space for the quick guys on the outside,” he continued. “Support at times was outstanding. The breakdown in the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes, that’s what we’re looking for and now maybe we can turn that into a little bit longer the next game (July 16 versus Calgary Canucks at 4 p.m. at SARFC).”
Tries by Robinson, AJ King (off quick deliveries from Fitch to Bontus before finishing the play off), and Robert Blunden, who scored on his 22nd birthday, and Fitch’s three conversions accounted for the first-half point totals.
Fitch was also on the receiving end of a brilliant feed by Bontus, who ran with authority with a spring in his step, in the opening seconds of the first half and converted his spirited romp to make it 28-0.
“We really wanted to come out with a lot of intensity and win the breakdown, fan out on defence and just play a really strong defensive game off the bat and when we had the ball we just wanted to give it to our fast guys, exploit their gaps and utilized our skill,” said Robinson.
The slick scrumhalf got the firsts rolling with a breakaway try from inside the halfway line to kick-off the scoring.
“It was kind of a lucky breakdown. They came through in an offside position and I just picked the ball up and ran through all the way. I just saw a gap and the Red Sea parted I guess,” said Robinson, who utilized a sneaky quick boot throughout the match to put the Irish on their back heels when they showed signs of pressing.
Robinson, 28, is arguably the team's MVP in the first half of the season and the high school rugby product of the St. Albert Skyhawks credits his Team Canada appearance in the 2016 America Rugby Championship for the inspired performance.
“It was very unexpected for me to get that call. It was a pretty big honour and it just really lit the fire for me and inspired me to get back and continue playing rugby at a high level and just try and elevate my game to the highest level I can,” said Robinson, who came off the bench for Canada against Brazil, 52-25 win in Victoria, and Argentina, 54-21 loss in Rosario, Argentina.
“On that tour and training with that calibre of coaching staff and those calibre of players, it was just constantly learning. The coaches were always giving advice and pointers and it just really elevated my game so right now I’m playing with confidence and just hoping to move forward. I feel that’s the key to any athlete’s success is just having confidence in themselves and their abilities.”
Robinson and other SARFC players are on the roster of the Calgary-based Prairie Wolf Pack in the Canadian Rugby Championships. The Wolf Pack recently competed in a losing cause against a touring England Counties side, comprised of players from National League One and below and are the flagship team of England Community Rugby.
Robinson was also part of the Alberta Selects XV team that played the Ontario Blues last month at Ellerslie Rugby Park in a preseason test for players to make their case for selection to the 2015 MacTier Cup champion Wolf Pack.
The first CRC match for the Wolf Pack is Saturday against the B.C. Bears at 3 p.m. at Calgary Rugby Park.
