St. Albert’s super seconds constructed their fifth win in a row with a workmanlike performance Thursday.
“It’s big. We’re building momentum,” said captain Sean LeLacheur after the rain-soaked and mosquito-infested 19-0 victory over the Strathcona Druids at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
This is St. Albert’s second year in the second division since the 18-1 Lor-Ann Cup provincial championship season in 2007. Last year the seconds were the J.W. Shaw Cup finalists in the Edmonton Rugby Union.
“We had a good season. We lost in the northern championship so obviously this year we want to one-up that and go to provincials. It’s in Edmonton this year [Oct. 1 at Ellerslie Rugby Park] and we would love to play there. We know the first team has a good shot at it and we know we do too. The club has real high expectations this year and is looking for two championships for sure,” said LeLacheur, the second team’s MVP in 2010.
The seconds (5-2) are on pace to finish top two in the table after placing third at 6-6 last year.
“The potential is definitely there to be a better team, we’ve just got to iron out a few things. There is no doubt the talent is there, we’ve just got to get our structure down and get our minds going into it. It’s kind of the crunch time right now,” LeLacheur said of the last five games in the fixtures, including two against the division-leading Norwesters (6-1), leading up to the Sept. 17 semifinals.
The starting 15 against the Druids were loaded with experienced first division-calibre players. Several of them were also in the line-up that lost 21-18 to the Druids (3-6) as the seconds started the year 0-2.
“A lot of us have played together for six to seven years now so we’re kind of taking the backseat to a lot of these younger guys that are moving up. They’re taking over the first division and we’re kind of trying to keep the second div as competitive as we can,” said LeLacheur, 26, a dependable second row who also captained last year’s team.
There was no scoring in the second half after the seconds whipped up three tries and Ashley Hanson kicked two conversions.
“We were trying some different things in the second half. We changed a bit of our structure. Some things worked. Some things didn’t. We’re going to try them out in practice again and try it all over again next weekend,” LeLacheur said.
At game time sheets of rain pelted the players. After the short but intense downpour, a double rainbow brightened up the sky as the seconds racked up the points.
“As soon as the ball got kicked it got wet and the game got really scrappy,” LeLacheur said. “We did play great defence considering the conditions.”
In the ninth minute, winger Nathan Reis finished off a series of touchline-to-touchline passes in front of the try line to open the scoring. A robust run into contact by Graham Noren put the seconds in position to weave their magic with the ball. Hanson, who missed a penalty kick in the rain early in the contest, was successful on the long, difficult conversion attempt.
After the teams exchanged a series of kicks, great hustle by Brad Angove during a long run while chased from behind to track down a ball bouncing dangerously close to St. Albert’s try line kept the visitors off the scoreboard. After Angove scooped up the ball, the powerful winger faked out a Druid and with room to roam, motored past the halfway line before dishing it off.
The seconds eventually scored their second try in the 24th minute. After they out-rucked the Druids deep in their end, smart running by Hanson and a clever pass to a streaking David Owen caught the opposing defence drifting the wrong way. Hanson converted Owen’s try under the posts.
Five minutes after the Druids missed a penalty kick from outside the 22-metre line, Owen steamrolled his way towards the try line with an impressive run but was dragged down in front of the posts. Massive support off the ruck saw the ball go from scrum-half Frank Lucas to Hanson to fullback Matt Herod and his short sprint added to the lead with eight minutes left in the half.
“We had good structure in the first half. We managed to run our slow ball. Our forwards kept ball possession, got it out to our backs and when we get the backs out the ball like that with that much space, they’re going to score like that many, many times,” LeLacheur said.
Owen, a standout in the centres with shifty running skills, was the obvious man of the match. The Druids had no clue how to stop the Welsh Bullet when the ball was in his hands. The club veteran didn’t play last year and looks faster than ever after the layoff.
“I can’t pick a single game this year that David played poorly. I’ve played with a lot of guys and I’ve played with very few that can run a hard line like he does with such powerful legs. He is a hard guy to bring down once he gets moving. He is a big part of our offence,” LeLacheur said.
Possession overall in the match was about 90-10 for the seconds. The Druids threatened only a few times towards the end of the game. Most of their energy was spent mixing it up with the seconds in the physical affair. Lucas and Justin (Bomber) Armitt were in the thick of several skirmishes with the Druids. A brief punch-up in the second half resulted in sin-bin cards to Noren and a very upset Druid.
“It was kind of scrappy right from the rucks to the tackles to everything else. There was a lot of stuff going on but I thought we did a pretty good job trying to stay away from a lot of it but inevitably there were a few flare-ups. It shows that the guys are into it and guys are sticking up for each other so it’s not the worst thing to see,” said LeLacheur, who had issues with some of the referee’s questionable calls as the game wound down with the seconds in defence mode protecting their shutout.
The seconds play next Saturday against the Leduc Crude (4-4). Kickoff is 2 p.m. in Leduc.
