Ellerslie Rugby Park – The St. Albert third division men’s team ran out of time in Saturday’s season-opening loss to the Pirates in the Edmonton Rugby Union.
In the fourth quarter, after an early penalty kick by hooker Stephen Ignace pulled St. Albert to within seven points of the Pirates, the thirds spent the rest of the match inside enemy territory. They frantically pushed towards the try area with several thrusts to the five-metre line before the final whistle blew.
“It makes it a tougher loss when you’re close (to scoring) like that, but when you’re always fighting like that it makes for an even better game,” said standoff Matt Lomas after the 31-24 decision.
The thirds grew stronger as a tight cohesive unit after penalties and several losses of possession contributed to the slow start.
They trailed 5-0 after the first quarter and 19-7 at halftime before ramping it up to make it a contest down 24-21 after three quarters.
“We just got more confident in ourselves. We bonded more as a team,” Lomas said.
The Pirates fielded an older and bigger starting 15 and the thirds relied heavily on some impressive young talent, a sprinkling of club veterans and fearless scrum-half Graeme Scott.
Elder statesmen Eric Wynychuk (29th year of rugby) and Pat Whitehead provided valuable leadership to a gung-ho group of thirds.
“It’s our first game as a team. There wasn’t much practice. We had some inexperienced guys but they came out and showed what they’re worth,” said Lomas, St. Albert’s man of the match with two tries.
“I just put my head down and charged in both times,” said the 18-year-old Stony Plain resident.
Lomas scored the team’s first try with 10 minutes left until halftime, set up by a Scott’s quick feed. Ignace’s conversion closed the deficit to 12-7.
A few minutes later, the Pirates broke through the line after chasing down a kick and the conversion was good.
Early in the third quarter the Pirates caught a break with a run from their 40 down the wing against little opposition for their fourth try.
The thirds buckled down to end the quarter with tries by Lomas and Christian Otto and Ignace’s conversions.
Lomas scored under the posts on a penalty play from the five-metre line and four minutes later Otto faked out several Pirates with some shake-and-bake during a spirited dash from outside the 22.
In the opening minute of the fourth quarter the Pirates touched the ball down in the try area and the conversion made it 31-21.
After the try the thirds dominated the rest of the quarter against the spent-looking Pirates.
“When we spun it out to the wings we made a lot of ground and our forwards were setting up good play for us to drive in a try,” Lomas said.
Four minutes later, Ignace’s penalty kick from around the 22 split the uprights and a longer attempt with six minutes to go fell short of the posts. He also missed a penalty in the first quarter.
With time a factor, valiant efforts scrummaging and rucking in close range of the try line by the thirds – spearheaded by Whitehead and Nathan Gies in the forwards and Jake Mentz in the backs to advance the ball – ended with penalties or turnovers.
“We can really build on this game,” said Lomas, a future first division player who saw action for the thirds, seconds and U19 juniors last year.
A number of the thirds will dress for the men’s second division debut Thursday against the Lep/Tigers at 7 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The next game for the thirds is June 1 against the Penguins at 4 p.m. in Cold Lake.
SCRUM BALLS: The St. Albert women’s team forfeited Saturday’s ERU spring league opener against the Lep/Tigers because of a lack of players.
Tonight at 7 p.m. the women play the Pirates at their home field.
