Calgary Rugby Park – There are three things in life you can count on: Death, taxes and the Calgary Hornets beating St. Albert in premier men's rugby.
The fifth win in a row by the Hornets against St. Albert's first 15 was Saturday's 33-25 decision in Calgary.
"We were pretty revved up today," said Hornets' prop Peter Rowe. "We always look forward to playing St. Albert because they really push us. When you play somebody so good we pick up our game and we play better."
The Hornets' winning streak includes the Labatt's Cup provincial finals in 2009, which pulled the plug on St. Albert's undefeated season, and last year's championship showdown to end an 11-game winning streak by the firsts.
"I don't know what it is," said inside-centre Adam Bontus about St. Albert's inability to defeat the Hornets. "They're a good team and you've got to give them credit, but we showed today that we've got the team to play with them. It could've gone either way, we've just got to play a full 80 minutes."
The biggest game of the year for both teams started with a missed penalty kick by Fraser Lyle of the Hornets from outside the 22-metre line in the 10th minute. The Scottish import also booted the ball wide on a makeable penalty attempt near the 40-metre line in the 21st minute, and the firsts up 7-5.
The Hornets opened the scoring in the 16th minute on their second major push into St. Albert territory.
The firsts replied three minutes later, when Robert Blunden shrugged off a couple of Hornets before diving across the try line. Andrew Marsden nailed the difficult conversion.
"We got off to a good start. We had some good momentum going," Bontus said.
In the 34th minute play was halted when Nick Gies broke his ankle while being tackled. Gies was whisked away by ambulance to the Rockyview General Hospital, and was later picked up by the team bus for the ride back to St. Albert for surgery. He was replaced at second row by 18-year-old Trent Bennett.
After play resumed, Marsden split the uprights from outside the 40.
The firsts suffered another injury when scrumhalf Jake Robinson was smothered by a horde of Hornets at the end of a gallant dash past the halfway line. Robinson finished the first half, but sat out the rest of the contest with pains in his chest. Matt Herod took over the scrumhalf duties after starting the match on the wing.
With three minutes left in the opening half, Marsden kicked a penalty from inside the 40 to make it 13-5.
The Hornets replied with a quick strike to end the half with a try.
Second-half letdown
A pair of long-range penalty kicks by Lyle three minutes apart in the opening seven minutes of the second half turned a three-point deficit into a 16-13 Hornets lead.
"When he slotted those two to put us ahead that was key for us. We were back in the game," Rowe said. "In the first half we were a little complacent and a little sluggish but [at halftime] our coaches asked us to step it up and the 15 guys on the field put it up a notch and that helped seal it for us."
The firsts regained the lead on a shifty run by Bontus for a try under the posts. Marsden's conversion put the firsts up by four with 26 minutes remaining.
Three minutes later the Hornets scored off a run down the touchline to go ahead 21-20. They added another quick try by exploiting a defensive breakdown on the wing to extend the lead to six points.
With seven minutes to go the Hornets split the defensive line inside the 22-metre line with a converted try to lead 33-20.
"We let them play to their game plan too much and they got us running around on defence a few times in the second half. We just lost our structure and they put a few tries in and some penalties," Bontus said.
Blunden's second try closed out the scoring in extra time. The 18-year-old hooker and Team Alberta player was selected St. Albert's man of the match in his first premier start.
Forwards Luke Racine and Kyle Baillie, along with Marsden and Bontus in the backs, also shone bright for a squad that deserved a better fate.
"We played hard but we didn't play to our game plan a lot," Bontus said. "We lost a bit of our focus and we had lots of penalties too and that didn't help."
Rowe, 34, acknowledged it wasn't an easy win for the Hornets.
"It was definitely a battle," said the former Clan antagonist. "We had a big clash up front and our forwards really did it to us. In the last provincial final it was very even the whole game but this time we stepped up. It helped us solidify the ball and allowed us to give it to the backs to move fast and score."
Both teams were missing several standouts. Among the notable St. Albert players not dressed was captain Brett Kelly. The ferocious eight-man and 2011 Edmonton Rugby Union senior men's MVP was completing his two-game suspension from the controversial July 5 punch-up with the Clansmen. Five red cards were issued in the violent affair, including three to the Clan. St. Albert prop Chris Butlin was also red carded.
Antony Fitch also sat out Saturday's tilt after suffering a concussion against the Clan. The British import standoff was kicked in the head by a defender after scoring a try in the 18-16 loss in St. Albert. The referee ruled it was accidental but the firsts felt it was deliberate.
In the Alberta Cup table the Hornets are 7-0 and the firsts are next in line at 5-4 with three matches left before playoffs start.
The firsts are fighting the Clan (4-3) and Strathcona Druids (4-4) for a bye into the north final for another shot at the Alberta title. Last year's 31-13 setback to the Hornets was the third loss in four straight trips to the provincial final.
"Hopefully we'll see them in the final again this year," said Bontus, 25.
The firsts are back on the pitch Aug. 11 against the Calgary Canucks (3-4). Game time is 3:30 p.m. at Calgary Rugby Park.
