Calgary Rugby Park – The most unexpected Labatt’s Cup in St. Albert Rugby Football Club history was also the most gratifying for the premier men’s team.
Written off after last year’s disastrous playoff shortcomings and lukewarm .500 record in this year’s Alberta Cup fixtures, SARFC caught lightning in a bottle during three beat-down playoff performances climaxing in Saturday’s decisive provincial final.
“It’s absolutely brilliant,” said a gushing Joe Casella, a second-half game-breaker with two tries in the 42-26 mastery of the Calgary Rams. “We just needed a bit of momentum and a bit of belief. We got on a roll at the right time in the semifinals and carried it through and today it showed we’re a pretty good team when we turn up and do the business.”
SARFC physically dominated the Strathcona Druids (5-6) in the north semifinal 34-12, stomped the Nor’Westers (10-2), the defending provincial champions and winners of four in a row against SARFC, 29-7 in the Ken Ann Cup north final – both matches were contested in the snow and cold – before tearing apart the Rams (13-2) in favourable weather conditions.
“It was a little bit of belief,” said Jeremy Kyne, head coach of the SARFC men’s program, on the startling playoff turnaround. “To get into the home semifinal gives you an opportunity to play in front of your home crowd so you can do some things. Guys get behind you and we’re really lucky in St. Albert because they have such a good club so to play that home semifinal you get the momentum from there and then to play against the Nor’Westers we made the most of the conditions in that game and in the final today we stood up in the second half, physically especially.
“It was all about sticking to the game plan, development over pretty much the whole summer, and then fine tuning towards the end and then to pull it together as a 15 was really good.”
The first 15 SARFC lineup was identical throughout the playoff march to greatness.
“We had a consistent team out for a change. We’ve had a lot of guys with other commitments throughout the season and we struggled to put together our best team every week so having the same team in the playoffs really helped,” said Jordan Roberts, the soft-spoken captain and top-notch number eight.
SARFC was the No. 2 playoff seed in the north after placing second in the Alberta Cup table, while the Rams and Nor’Westers were first and second, respectively, in league play. North teams played 10 matches, compared to 12 for the south teams in the premier men’s fixtures before the playoffs.
“It’s not just about the skills, every team is skilled, it’s about deep down what we had and as soon as the playoffs came around the boys took a step forward and dug deep and made it happen and it shows a lot about our character and how much we really wanted it,” said winger Duncan Maguire of SARFC’s unquestionable will to win when it mattered the most.
There was also extra incentive for SARFC to embrace its fifth Labatt’s Cup since 2010 and the first since the 2014-16 three-peat after failing to advance to the Ken Ann Cup north final last year.
“The boys just really wanted it. There’s a lot of boys who might not be back next season so all the boys made sure we did it for them,” said Roberts of the ninth provincial final for SARFC in 11 years after winning the 2007 Lor-Ann Cup division two provincial championship when SARFC started rebuilding the men’s ranks with one team that year.
In the first half, the lead changed hands three times after the Rams opened the scoring with a converted try in the third minute.
“They started really strong and I thought we were in for a hell of a game and we were,” Casella said. “It was kind of the opposite when we played them earlier in the year (43-27 loss June 2 in Calgary) when we started well and then they finished better than us.”
Down 14-8, SARFC cranked it up with a converted penalty try in the 37th minute and Jake Robinson's try on the last play in extra time to lead 20-14 at the break.
“We rolled with the punches a bit and kind of did a rope-a-dope and then came back and scored a few tries before halftime that were key,” said Casella, who punched a penalty kick through the posts from outside the 22-metre line to put SARFC on the scoreboard in the sixth minute.
The Rams were on the verge of scoring their second try when Maguire picked off a pass without breaking stride and raced down the pitch untouched to make it 8-7 in the eighth minute.
“I saw they had an overlap so I had to either pinch up or drop back and they’re on our five metre so if I took a step back they would've easily out-manned us and put it out wide so I just took a risk. I saw their 10 lining up for a big miss pass so I just went for it,” Maguire said.
The Rams regained the lead with a converted try in the 13th minute and six minutes later Andrew Neilson was yellow carded over an incident.
With a man short, SARFC withstood a fierce charge by the Rams as Orrin Farries produced two huge plays by recovering a turnover in front of the try line and two minutes later disrupted a lineout around the five-metre line.
In the 26th minute, Jordan Tait relieved the pressure with a run to reverse field position as SARFC caught its second wind before Neilson re-entered the match from the sin-bin.
A disturbance involving players from both teams in the 32nd minute resulted in yellow cards to the mild-mannered Maguire and Patrick O’Connor, a prop for the Rams.
With the tide turning in SARFC’s favour, Casella single-handedly advanced the ball deep in the Rams’ territory with a spirited dash that started in front of the halfway line, followed by a kick and chase that caught the Rams by surprise.
SARFC eventually pushed the Rams back towards their try line during a scrum from outside the five-metre line and was awarded a penalty try. The conversion made it 15-14 and SARFC never looked back.
On the ensuing kickoff, SARFC kept hammering away at the skitterish Rams and in the third minute of extra time, after a series of lineouts and scrums, Robinson forged head to plant the ball down just past the try line while engulfed in the arms of a couple of tacklers.
“That was huge momentum going into the second half when Jake scored at the end,” Maguire said of the six-point spread. “Our first 30 minutes we made quite a few mistakes but we knew that. At halftime Jeremy said, ‘Look, everyone’s made mistakes so forget about it and let’s move forward.’”
SARFC kept pounding away as the Rams tried unsuccessfully to catch up to the front-runners.
After an unsuccessful penalty kick by Tait two minutes into the second half, SARFC continued to press. Farries, who played a whale of game before he was concussed in a thunderous collision in the 74th minute and required post-game stitches to his head, stole a lineout ball around the five-metre line but a knock-on gave the ball back to the Rams. However, SARFC regained possession after a Rams’ scrum as Casella and Tait combined forces inside the 22-metre line to feed Matt Jarvis on the wing. Jarvis, who was stopped short of scoring a couple minutes earlier, sidestepped a defender in front of the try line for the five-point play in the 46th minute.
The Rams recovered to score a try in the 50th minute but two minutes later Alexander Ashley Jones was red carded for a dangerous pitch-fork tackle. The Rams’ prop exchanged hand signals with members of the SARFC cheering section behind the team benches during his walk of shame.
“That red card allowed us to capitalize on the one man advantage. It really sealed the game for us,” Roberts said.
The first try for Casella was off a scrum outside the 22-metre line that SARFC controlled. Chad Monai-Brophy also provided a key pass on the play for Casella to finish in the 60th minute.
“Jake fed Chad and he got outside and then it was simply playing it through the hands and I managed to get in the corner luckily so that was really on the forwards and all their hard work,” Casella said.
SARFC’s superiority in the scrums was not only evident against the Rams but throughout the playoffs.
“Our scrum has been dominant in the last three, four weeks and Ryan (Ackerman) and Gus (Angus MacDonald) were at the forefront of that. Those two played really well,” Kyne said of the starting props with Robert Blunden in the middle as the front-row bouncers for the forward pack.
“Winning those crucial scrums by the forwards and up front tackles like (Adam) Bontus with his amazing tackle on their number eight really pumps the boys up,” said Maguire, 29.
As the second half wound down, a series of subs reinforced SARFC’s physicality.
“We just gritted it out a lot and turned a few scrums over and scored off of that,” Casella said. “We made the most of our man advantage at the end when their guy got sent off.”
The Rams produced another converted try in the 65th minute to pull within four at 30-26 but SARFC refused to wilt despite a missed penalty kick in the 49th minute as Monai-Brophy slipped into the try area with a dummy pass in front of the five-minute line during a frenzied push for points. Monai-Brophy also converted his own try in the 72nd minute.
Casella’s second try was a thing of beauty in the 77th minute as the shifty Welsh import covered three-quarters of the pitch with Secretariat speed and the Rams falling over themselves in pursuit.
“I just managed to make the break and beat the fullback to get it into the corner as well,” said Casella, 28, who is in the running for the team’s playoff MVP award along with Robinson, a scrumhalf in a league of his own.
“It was a good try from Joe at the end to really seal it,” said Roberts, 25, a New Zealander and the 2017 MVP of the 9-5 premier team. “We worked hard all game and got it done. It wasn't a pretty win but it was a win. It was gritty.”
“It was a great game for us,” Casella added. “I’m really happy for the boys. Hopefully we can do the same thing again next year as well.”
