The seventh win in a row by the defending Labatt's Cup champions was too good to be true.
Down by 10 at the 12th minute mark, the first division squad roared back and tacked up 40 unanswered points to whip the Strathcona Druids 40-17 on a sweltering Saturday afternoon at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
"It was a fantastic win," said a beaming Karim Lynch, a standout fullback who scored two pivotal tries in the comeback charge. "They were at full strength I think and we had seven starters out. We were playing with new people, and having the seconds step up shows good strength and depth. It's really good for club morale too."
Four primetime players – Duncan Maguire, the team leader in tries, national sevens player Kyle Gilmour, the elusive Jake Robinson and the underrated Adam Bontus — had Prairie Wolf Pack commitments in the Canadian Rugby Championship series and didn't play.
"Brett Kelly is also injured and so is Ben Robinson, so what we did today is huge," said Lynch of the two prominent forwards who might not be available until the Sept. 17 quarter-finals.
At the break it was 14-10.
"When we went two tries down I had bad vibes for the rest of the game but we got a try back right away and we came back very well," Lynch said.
It didn't look good when the Druids crossed the try line in the third minute and did it again nine minutes later against a shocked St. Albert side.
"We just weren't into it," said an exhausted Preston Petrovitch, who played a full 80 minutes for the seconds against the Fort McMurray Knights in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, then went the distance with the first 15 against the Druids. "When you get off to a pretty slow start, it's tough to get back into it but we put it together. We have a good group of guys that are pretty tight and they will bleed together on the pitch for the good of the club and that's basically what we did today. It was good to see."
A try by Lynch in the 15th minute got the firsts back on track. His kick for touch eventually led to a St. Albert scrum at the five-metre line. After scrum-half Matt Herod fed standoff Mark Langford the ball, the British import from Portsmouth directed a low kick into the try area for the speedy Lynch to tap down for points.
"We were all pretty flat at that point," Lynch said. "I looked and saw their fullback was up, there was no one at home, so we called [the play]. I ran after it and luckily I got it."
In the 21st minute, Nick Gies finished off a scoring drive that featured good ball movement by Herod and Langford and a romp into contact by Johnny Moloney in the Druids' end of the field.
Herod's steady kicking leg converted both tries in the first half.
The firsts also survived the loss of prop Luke Racine for a spell in the sin bin for beaking at the referee. Head coach Chal Smyth wasn't thrilled with Racine's lack of discipline and sternly warned the newcomer from the Castaway Wanderers not to say another word when he was allowed back on the pitch towards the end of the half.
Floodgates open
Four minutes into the second half, Lynch leaped to reel in a rainbow kick and from outside the Druids' 22-metre line he ran like the wind into the try area.
"When I landed there was one guy in front of me and there was no one behind him. I just saw the gap so I went for went it," said last year's MVP for the first premier men's provincial championship in club history.
The try signalled the beginning of the end for the Druids, who stunned the firsts 29-17 in the season opener. Matt Jarvis, David Owen, a second half sub in the centres who played for the seconds against Fort McMurray, and Gies rounded out the scoring with impressive romps for tries. Herod nailed all the conversions except for one attempt that chipped paint off the post.
The Druids (4-5-1) ended the game with a converted try.
The result ranked among the best efforts by the firsts (7-3) during their seven-game winning streak, including the previous weekend's 29-17 come-from-behind effort against the Calgary Saints (5-2-1) in Calgary.
"The Saints was a real good win. We really grounded it out late in the game [with two tries by Maguire with about five minutes left]," said Lynch, who will celebrate his 23rd birthday Thursday. "This one is up there as well, especially with the amount of players we had out."
Double duty
After the big win, several players on the firsts pounded back litres of water, including a drenched Petrovitch.
"I'm really hot. I've got to get the body temperature down. I guarantee I won't stop sweating until 11 o'clock tonight," said the five-foot-seven self-proclaimed rugby gypsy with heavy metal hair.
With the seconds the ex-Clansman lined up at prop, then switched to hooker with the firsts. He also spent time at prop with Racine in the sin bin.
"I'm a hooker and flanker normally. It's all about body position. I'm an old dude so I've been accustomed to a lot of things. In U19 I played prop for Saskatchewan at nationals," said Petrovitch, 32, who won a first division provincial title this year in British Columbia with Burnaby before hooking up with St. Albert. "It's a winning club here and that was a huge thing for me. They also have good, young players. I may be the oldest guy on the pitch but it's pretty fun to play with kids that are full of piss and vinegar."
The Regina product and former Cowichan player was the only St. Albert player Saturday to play both games without leaving the pitch.
"You just get into the groove and keep it going one breath at a time and one step at a time," said the server at Montana's Cookhouse Saloon. "Whatever they need me to do I will step up and do it. I don't mind. It's for the good of a championship, and that's the main goal. We're not out here to lose. It's all about winning."
