Red Deer – The team that can't win the big game did it again.
With first place up for grabs in Thursday's rematch of the provincial final, St. Albert's premier men suffered a stunning 26-10 defeat at the hands of the defending champion Calgary Hornets.
"It's frustrating to play as a player, to be totally honest," said a glum-looking Brett Kelly, shaking his head in disbelief after the subpar performance by the provincial finalists the last two years. "It's been too easy for too long for us. It's been three years of high scoring wins. We needed a frickin' slap in the face like this."
The loss was only the sixth in 43 matches, to go with 36 wins and one tie, after the first 15 rejoined the premier ranks following their 18-1 Alberta Rugby Union second division championship season in 2007.
"It's a wakeup call and it's good that we got it," Kelly said.
After two straight years as the premier pennant winners, St. Albert finished 10-2 for second place behind the 11-1 Hornets. When the playoffs kick off Sept. 11, St. Albert will host the seventh-place Red Deer Titans (5-7) at 4 p.m. at the Leading Edge Physiotherapy Fields and the Hornets will entertain the eighth-place Lep/Tigers (1-9-1). Semifinals are Sept. 18 and the final is Sept. 25 at the Calgary Rugby Park.
"We've got to get ourselves back now to where we should be for the playoffs. We're going to be facing those guys again in the final and I can't wait," Kelly said.
Clash of titans
The Hornets also viewed the grudge match between the premier rugby powers as a provincial preview.
"I think we're going to meet them again in playoffs and I'm looking forward to it," said Mike Hurd, the Hornets' captain, who was very gracious in his assessment of St. Albert in the post-game interview. "St. Albert put out a very good test for us and it ended up being a good game. It was probably one of the most competitive games that we've had where we've had to play as a full 15-man squad."
After the stinging loss, St. Albert held a prolonged closed-door meeting in a cramped change room while the Hornets used up all the hot water in the showers. Player/head coach Chal Smyth did all the talking, and what could be heard through the concrete wall wasn't flattering.
When the door finally opened, Kelly was asked what the difference was in the match.
"They capitalized on their weaknesses," replied the St. Albert eight-man. "We probably played 60 minutes of rugby and not 80 for sure."
Heading into the first-place showdown, St. Albert was riding a nine-game winning streak and the Hornets had won five in a row, including a 115-0 blowout of the Titans last Saturday.
"We all knew it was going to be a very big game. They were going to be our toughest competition for sure. During the whole week the lead-up was preparation for this game and I think we prepared pretty well for it," Hurd said. "One of the main things was the teamwork we put out there today. It wasn't just about a few guys, it was about the whole team effort and that was really big.
"Our defence was great too. We were able to come up and stop them on some of their good runs that they had. Even when they did score on us or put pressure on us we were able to regroup as a team and come back out even harder."
The teams staged a rare Thursday tilt on a neutral field to make up for two previous postponements scheduled for Calgary. Fans came out in droves, as carloads of supporters from both clubs converged on the Titans Rugby Park to see the best of the best.
"Any time it's a weekday game it's tough. Guys have work commitments and other stuff, but it was a road trip both teams had to make," Kelly said.
Rough start
The Hornets, noted for their hardcore physicality, marched St. Albert back into its try area with brute force for a converted try in the 10th minute. After the score, Aaron Millard was leaking blood and Chris Butlin replaced him while the St. Albert hooker got patched up.
Two minutes later, after the Hornets kept possession of the ball following a vicious hit by Ben Robinson, the Calgarians outmanned St. Albert on the wing and beat the last guy back, Matt Herod, on a two-on-one play for the try by the corner flag. A great conversion by the touchline outside the 22-metre line made it 14-0. After the try, Millard returned to the pitch with his head bandaged up.
Penalties to both teams in enemy territory took away promising scoring drives, leading up to the third try by the Hornets in the 26th minute. The scorer shredded several arm tackles with disdain en route to the try area from outside the 22. After the converted try, captain Graham Noren lit into his St. Albert teammates for not chopping the legs out from under the powerful runner.
Before the half ended, a long kick by British import Karim Lynch was chased down by Duncan Maguire in front of the Hornets' try line, resulting in a five-metre scrum. A couple more scrums took place, as the front rows for both teams had trouble sorting things out. St. Albert prop Dan Taggart and his counterpart on the Hornets had to be warned by the referee to play nice or get carded.
Despite the glorious field position, St Albert was unable to capitalize as the Hornets recovered a loose ball and kicked it away to relieve the pressure.
"We had a slow start for sure and then we started to get it together but it still wasn't really clicking for us. I don't know if we weren't prepared or what the case was," Kelly said. "When we did start to build momentum, we would get to their five and then we would knock it on or take a penalty and they would kick it down field and we would have to restart again."
Eleven minutes into the second half, Lynch scored off a lineout ball from outside the 22 with a quick burst through the Hornets' defensive line, then fake his way around a pair of defenders to cap off the run. An easy conversion kick by British import Simon Gregory failed to split the uprights. Gregory didn't have a great day at standoff, but he wasn't alone when it came to quality efforts by the St. Albert side.
Two minutes after Lynch's try, the Hornets caught a break as St. Albert seemed confused over what to do with the ball in front of its bench and the snafu was converted into a try.
The Hornets missed two penalty kicks in the second half, which ended on a St. Albert try in the dark by Justin Gilmour.
The rough stuff escalated in the second half, with both teams guilty of nasty business. There was also no shortage of colourful verbal darts thrown around by players and fans leading up to the final whistle. When it was over, the Hornets celebrated with glee.
"We were certainly happy with our performance. We lost a few players to the [Prairie] Wolf Pack and we had to have some guys step up for us and they put in very big performances and definitely held their own," Hurd said.
St. Albert was also minus flanker Kyle Gilmour and scrum-half Jake Robinson to the Calgary-based Wolf Pack, who are playing The Rock in St. John's, Nfld. today to determine home-field advantage for the Sept. 18 Canadian Rugby Championship final.
Both teams also fielded different line-ups from last year's provincial final, when the Hornets toppled the undefeated St. Albert squad 24-22 after trailing 8-7 at halftime.
"We're different than last year's team. We're playing a little bit of a different style but I think we're as good if not better," Hurd said.
