St. Albert firsts surrendered the first try and then punished the Calgary Saints for 42 unanswered points Saturday en route to a 42-12 victory in premier men's Alberta Cup rugby.
British import Antony Fitch led the assault with two brilliant tries in the second half and kicked six conversions in the blowout in front of the largest crowd of the year at the Leading Edge Fields at the St. Albert rugby club.
"The boys came to play smash mouth rugby today," said second-row Brian Pendlebury. "We might not have been scoring right from the get-go but we were definitely setting the tone for what sort of game it would be for the Saints."
The Saints survived an intense opening charge by the firsts and on their second stint in St. Albert's end manufactured a converted try in the 21st minute.
The firsts roared back with unrelenting pressure and with 10 minutes left in the half Andrew Marsden finished off a five-metre scrum by slicing through the Saints' defensive line. Fitch's conversion evened the score.
Sin bin card
Six minutes later, Pendlebury was yellow carded for diving over a ruck and was sentenced to the sin bin.
"I thought it was a free ball. I'm the rucker on the team so I just wanted to get out there and clear some space so someone else could take it but it didn't work out for me," he said.
Five minutes into the second half, and the firsts short a player with Pendlebury serving his penalty, several dummies by the speedy Fitch with the ball befuddled the Saints (2-1) for the go-ahead try.
Pendlebury, 29, returned to the pitch in the 51st minute, and on the ensuing St. Albert lineout outside the Saints' 22-metre line reeled in the jump ball and presented it to Jake Robinson. He dished it off to Luke Richardson, who distributed it to Pendlebury galloping into open space. With one defender standing in his way, Pendlebury planted a Gordie Howe elbow into the tackler's face and bolted into the try area where he emphatically touched the ball down.
"After being sin-binned I was kind of embarrassed for the team so I thought if I have a rest I've got to go out there and make a difference," said the social studies teacher, honours program co-ordinator and rugby coach at Hillcrest Junior High School.
Tries by Adam Bontus, import Adam Higgins and Fitch completed the rout.
The Saints scored their second converted try with five minutes remaining.
"We took advantage of our strengths and exploited their weaknesses," Pendlebury said.
The win was the third in a row after two losses by the 2011 provincial finalists to kick off the Alberta Cup fixtures.
"It feels real good. We're getting stronger and we're also getting key players back," said Pendlebury, a club veteran who missed the majority of the last two years with a torn ACL.
Only six players in the starting 15 against the Saints started in last year's 31-13 loss to the Calgary Hornets in the provincial final.
Gareth Scott also replaced Chal Smyth as the head coach. Smyth, the field general of the first premier provincial title in St. Albert Rugby Football Club history in 2010, is coaching the first-place Strathcona Druids (4-1).
The loss to the Hornets in the fourth consecutive provincial final by the firsts was only the 10th defeat in 61 matches during Smyth's tenure.
"Every year there are changes and this year it feels as if there has been quite a few changes," Pendlebury said. "With a coaching change it takes a little while to adjust to what the coach wants and now we're on board with the game plan. You can also see the unity within the team now."
Seconds sunk
St. Albert's second 15 remain in last place in the Edmonton Rugby Union despite an outstanding performance by Higgins at outside-centre in Saturday's 30-25 loss to the Pirates (3-4) at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
Higgins scored two tries and kicked two penalties and one conversion for the seconds (2-4) in the back-and-forth affair.
Sean Lelacheur's try and Higgins' difficult conversion put the seconds on top briefly at 18-15 in the 46th minute.
"They played a good defensive game against us," Higgins said. "We were slightly unorganized with the new faces we had but with the young guys coming in it's definitely shaping up to be quite a good season for them. They will progress as the season goes on."
The week before in Fort McMurray, Higgins lit up the Knights (2-6) for three tries at standoff in his first match for the seconds in a 29-27 decision.
"It was a good introduction to the game here and what it's going to be like and how rough it's going to be," he said. "It's something I match up to I think."
After playing the Pirates, Higgins subbed on in the second half at outside-centre against the Saints and busted loose for his third try of the afternoon.
"It was a great occasion to play twice like that in one day. Everything just kind of flowed together," said Higgins, who fumbled away a gift try from Graham Noren late in the match.
Higgins, 21, and his buddy Fitch hail from Bournemouth, a coastal resort town in the county of Dorset. They were recruited to play for St. Albert by Bournemouth product Karim Lynch, arguably the most talented player in St. Albert rugby history.
"It's great here. The guys are good fellows. I'm enjoying myself," Higgins said. "But I'm quite shocked by the standard of play. It's a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Some of the players are very talented."
SCRUM BALLS: Thursday at 7 p.m. the firsts scrum down against the Druids and the seconds line up against the Leduc Crude (3-3) at the Leading Edge Fields.
