Drew Grant’s try under the posts in the 68th minute put the U21 men’s team on top to stay in Wednesday’s season debut against the Nor’Westers at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The scoring play marked the fifth lead change in the 21-17 decision.
“It was hard fought and very back and forth,” Grant said.
The third conversion of the night by Chad Monai-Brophy capped off the lightning-quick drive after the Nor’Westers were stopped short of the SARFC try line following their score in the 51st minute to lead 17-14.
A couple of key plays by Monai-Brophy kept the ball going forward before Grant reeled in a pass inside the 22-metre line and broke away from Nor’Westers for the winning try.
“I would like to describe it as a pinball machine,” Grant said of the try. “It went outside, inside, outside, inside, outside and inside and I ended up with the ball in my hands somehow and the next thing I know I was touching it down.”
SARFC rose to the challenge after the Nor’Westers scored the opening try in the first minute.
“It started off with a bit of a slap in the face and from there we kind of pulled together. It was like, ‘Hey, back to rugby,’ because it was the first game of rugby for us this year,” Grant said.
Nathan Yue rucked the ball over the try line in the 30th minute and the conversion made it 7-5 SARFC.
Monai-Brophy was unsuccessful on two long penalty kicks with the wind at his back in the first half and finished 0-for-3 splitting the uprights.
In the 44th minute, the Nor’Westers swung the ball wide to the right after winning a lineout around the SARFC 22 and the conversion left the home side trailing by five.
Yule’s second try was set-up by Monai-Brophy’s kick for touch on a penalty for a lineout outside the five-metre line. SARFC won the lineout ball from Yue’s throw in and the rambunctious hooker eventually finished off the play by fighting his way into the try area in the 48th minute. SARFC led 14-12 after the conversion.
SARFC had one sub dressed, a late arrival for the match, and was a man short for the last couple of minutes because of a yellow card.
“We had three or four guys that never even touched the field before (in rugby) so it was a very impressive performance,” said Grant, 20.
He credited the forward pack for dictating the outcome of the contest.
“I couldn’t be happier with my one to eight. They weighed a lot less than them but they fought the whole way. They kept everything going. They were a train. They went from the get go all the way to the final whistle,” said the back by trade who started at scrumhalf.
The turning point, according to Grant, was the mauling between the 22-metre lines.
“My one to eight just put in the work today and they tired those boys out,” said the Paul Kane High School graduate. “They drained the clock, stuck their tackles and hit the rucks. They did everything they had to.”
The next U21 match is May 18 at the Lep/Tigers at 7 p.m.
The Bellerose Bulldogs and Paul Kane Blues will scrum down for the Gareth Jones Cup in high school women’s rugby Tuesday.
Kickoff is 4:45 p.m. at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The female Gareth Jones Cup was awarded only once and Bellerose was the 2012 recipient at the first and only St. Albert high schools’ tournament.
The Battle of St. Albert is also the last match before the metro Edmonton playoffs. The top two division one A and B pool teams advance to the May 17 semifinals.
Paul Kane is 2-0 and Bellerose is 1-1 in pool A.
Paul Kane is coming off a 65-0 drubbing of the Jasper Place Rebels (0-2) and Bellerose lost 17-12 to the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds (1-1), the same team Paul Kane beat 37-10 in the season opener.
Last year’s playoffs saw Bellerose lose the division one final 38-0 to the Bev Facey Falcons, winners of four championships in a row, and drop goals decided Paul Kane’s fate in the division two semifinal setback against the Harry Ainlay Titans.
Meanwhile, Grade 12 eight-man/lock Sydney De La Mare of Paul Kane has committed to the Lethbridge Pronghorns for the 2016 season.
The Pronghorn are hosting the Canada West women’s rugby championship in the fall.
The U18 national team player toured England last month and in two matches for Canada against the England Talent Development Group she started the first game at lock and was a reserve for the second game. England won both matches by scores of 41-17 and 17-12.
The men’s and women’s teams at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club kick-off their fixtures next Saturday at the Nor’Westers.
The division one women tackle Crude/West at 12 p.m., the third division men line up against the Nor’Westers at 2 p.m. and the premier men battle the Nor’Westers at 4 p.m.
The SARFC women are scruming down in the Edmonton Rugby Union’s new division one format instead of competing in the spring league to determine the Alberta first division and ERU second division teams for the rest of the fixtures.
Last year SARFC won two and lost four in its Alberta division one debut after going 7-2 in the spring league.
The third division men’s record was 12-3 as winners of the Visser Cup in the ERU and Digby Dinnie Cup at provincials.
The premier men finished 14-2-1 in the Alberta Cup fixtures with a Ken Ann Cup three-peat in the north playoffs and a Labatt’s Cup repeat at provincials.
The SARFC home openers are June 11 for the premier men, June 29 for the women and June 30 or the third division men.
