Beating the Paul Kane Blues for the second straight year in men’s rugby was the thrill of a lifetime for the Bellerose Bulldogs.
“It’s awesome. We wanted to win this game pretty bad,” said a smiling Sean Allen, a rough-and-tumble Bellerose prop, after Wednesday's rain-drenched 25-0 shutout at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The Bulldogs returned to the pitch last year after failing to field a team in 2008 and their second victory was 8-5 over the Blues, with the game-clinching try scored in injury time.
“Last year we didn’t have many veterans. We had a bunch of rookies and we did OK,” Allen said of the 2-3 Bulldogs. “This year we should be a strong force in this league. We have a lot of veterans and a few rookies but those rookies are starting to keep up with us.”
The loss marked the second game the Blues were denied a try. The team’s only points so far has been a penalty kick by Jean-Luc Bugeaud in the fourth minute of play in the 30-3 setback against the St. Francis Xavier Rams in the metro Edmonton north pool lid-lifter.
“There were some improvements from last week but there is still a ways to go. We’ve still got to focus on rucking and playing with more intensity. We’ve got to get our game faces on a little bit earlier and play with a bit more oomph and smack some guys around,” said Brock O'Neill, co-captain of the Blues. “A lot of guys came from the football team and a lot of Grade 12s haven’t played rugby before so the fundamentals still need some work.”
The Bulldogs kicked off their season with a 17-8 loss to the Sturgeon Spirits, the defending premier champions and fourth-place finishers at the tier I (4A schools) provincials.
“We didn’t have as many penalties or stupid mistakes today. It seemed like we knew the game a lot more than in the first game,” said Allen, one of nine returning Bulldogs on the roster.
Except for the last few minutes of the first half, the Blues pushed the Bulldogs around in Bellerose territory and had chances to score put couldn’t finish their drives. Co-captain Brett Trudel, Spencer Dobko and Lachlin Johnston were among several solid contributors as the Blues pressed for points in the first half.
“Everything was just tighter and we were doing a good job of moving the ball and playing with just more intensity overall,” said O'Neill, a sturdy Grade 12 eight-man. “As the game progressed we lost a little bit of it. We need to work on going full out for a full game.”
The tide turned when the Bulldogs charged the length of the field, culminating in Robert Blunden’s penalty kick into a stiff wind to end the first half.
“The game started off as a tough battle. PK had most of the possession of the ball, but then we just got fired up. We started kicking some butt and took the ball right back from them,” Allen said. “We just had a massive, massive team possession. We were running the ball hard at them. We had good forward pick-and-goes and good rucks. It got us all psyched.”
The Blues never got back on track after Blunden’s momentum shifting boot.
“It was a bit of a demoralizer when they scored at the end of the half but we can’t let ourselves get down on something like that. It’s just three points,” O’Neill said.
Six minutes into the second half Blunden neatly split the uprights from a penalty inside the 22. Before quarter time, Allen rumbled into the try area and Blunden made the conversion to put Bellerose up by 13.
Tries by Blunden and Ellis Lloyd and another Blunden conversion rounded out the scoring as the Bulldogs dominated the fourth quarter. Lloyd and teammate Jake Mentz shared man of the match honours.
“We pressed hard as a team. We had really good one-on-one tackles. We actually somehow passed the ball around in this wet weather. It wasn’t the best but it was good enough to win the game,” said Allen, 17, a Grade 12 Bulldog and the 2009 recipient of the Lee Grant Memorial Award with the senior football team.
The St. Albert showdown was staged in a nasty rainstorm and gusty winds.
“It was cold and very hard to hold on to the ball but that is something you have to overcome. You can’t blame the loss on the weather; they’re playing in it too,” said O’Neill, 17, the 2009 outstanding lineman award winner with the St. Albert High Skyhawks.
League play continues Wednesday for both teams. The Blues scrum down against the O’Leary Spartans (1-1) and the Bulldogs tackle the winless St. Albert Skyhawks. Game times are 4:45 p.m. at the rugby club.
