Druids beat thirds
The third division men’s team ran out of time against the Druids of Strathcona in Saturday’s season debut at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
“We had a slow start but we really put it together and scored some points,” said Ray MacIntyre, who split time at outside-centre and wing in the 13-8 loss. “In the second half we really stepped it up because we were behind and we really finished strong.”
The thirds spent most of the first half pinned deep in their end by a bigger and experienced pack. Despite the overwhelming edge in territory play, the Druids crossed the try line only twice against some gutsy defence. Their tries were scored off strong forward play after winning lineout balls in the 18th and 23rd minutes.
Towards the end of the first half the thirds lost the services of Frank Lucas for a spell. He was banished to the sin-bin for taking a poke at a Druid.
In the 39th minute, Braedon Platten capped off the team’s longest surge into enemy territory with a short penalty kick to cut the deficit to seven points at halftime.
“In the first half we missed a few of our tackles but we were trying really hard,” MacIntyre said.
In the 53rd minute, scrum-half Jon Anderson did all the leg work on MacIntyre’s try following a long kick for touch by Lucas that greatly improved the team’s field position.
“We were about at half field and we won the scrum. Jon took it out on a pick and go. I followed in support. He ran and beat one guy, then beat another guy and then another guy. He was about to get tackled when he passed it off to me. I was just in the right place and I ran it in and scored,” MacIntyre said.
Three minutes later, the Druids successfully kicked a penalty from outside the 22-metre line to round out the scoring.
The thirds battled hard for every inch of real estate the rest of the way but couldn’t get past the 22. Lucas and Platten, the team’s MVP last year, also contributed some timely kicks to help relieve pressure.
The best player on the pitch for the thirds was Nathan Reis. The little winger showed remarkable hustle to snuff out a potential try early in the match by picking off a pass. The rugby coach for the Paul Kane Blues also rattled off several spirited runs. A couple of times he was on the receiving end of some bone-crunching hits, but shook them off and kept on battling like the rest of his teammates.
“We played hard. We’ve only had a few practices outside together so it was a pretty good game for our first game,” said MacIntyre, 19, a high school rugby product of the Blues who didn’t play last year because of lower back surgery.
The thirds scrum down Friday against the Clansmen. Kick-off is 7 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
Women crushed
The Edmonton Rugby Union women’s spring league match between St. Albert and the Druids of Strathcona was close until the opening kick-off.
Things then quickly unravelled for the St. Albert lineup of only 12 players, as the Druids racked up a humongous 17 tries, plus five conversions, in Saturday’s 95-5 rout at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
A deep bench of Druids against a St. Albert side short three players to form a starting 15 was a recipe for disaster.
In the first half the Druids pounded St. Albert’s player-thin squad for 10 tries and four conversions.
It was 70-0 when St. Albert caught lightning in a bottle. After a determined dash down the right wing by Brianne Tetz, the team’s co-MVP winner last year passed the ball off to Marcia Davis and she motored into the try area while fighting off a defender hot on her heels.
Early in the second half, Davis was dragged down from behind on a breakaway along the touch line.
The next match for St. Albert is Saturday against the Clanswomen. It’s a noon kick-off at Airways Park.
The spring league will determine the teams that will play premier and second division, starting in late June.
High school scores
Metro Edmonton high school rugby kicked off Monday in the men’s division and the big winner was the Sturgeon Spirits.
The seventh-place finishers at the 2010 tier I (4A schools) provincials blasted the Paul Kane Blues 40-12 at the Pirates Rugby Club.
Today at 4:45 p.m. the Spirits tackle the defending premier conference champion St. Francis Xavier Rams at Airways Park. Last year in the semifinals the Rams knocked off the Spirits 7-5.
The Rams are coming off a 47-10 thumping of the St. Albert Skyhawks at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club. They led 15-0 after the first quarter and 30-5 at halftime. There was no scoring in the third quarter.
Scoring tries for the Skyhawks were Nathan Gies in the second quarter and Brett Evers in the last quarter.
The Skyhawks are looking to rebound today against the Bellerose Bulldogs at 4:45 p.m. in St. Albert.
The Bulldogs, last year’s city conference champions, defeated the O’Leary Spartans 29-17 at Airways Park despite an overabundance of penalties.
Galen Pon ran in two tries. Lewis Biamonte, Kieran Fraser and Robert Blunden also scored. Blunden kicked two conversions.
O’Leary and Paul Kane will also square off today at 4:45 p.m. in St. Albert.
