The Alberta Cup St. Albert rugby firsts didn’t play the way they’re capable of Saturday, but it was still good enough for the win.
St. Albert (5-1) topped the Edmonton Lep/Tigers (0-5) 40-20 at Ellerslie Rugby Park. They got four points for the win and a bonus point for scoring at least four tries (they recorded six), moving them into third place and just one behind the Clansmen, their next opponent.
“We definitely didn’t come out with our best effort,” said St. Albert’s 22-year-old scrumhalf Jake Robinson. “It’s hard to get up for a game like this. A lot of the guys, including myself, get caught up in the stats and stuff, like the standings. We see them at the bottom of the table and we just think it’s going to be a walkover.”
St. Albert was visibly not as sharp at the beginning of the game as they usually are and didn’t see the ball much in the opening half. They did hold off the Lep/Tigers’ attack and slowly built up a lead.
In the fifth minute, it was Lep/Tigers kicker Joe Cribley opening the scoring with a penalty kick from about 30 metres out. However, the home side would hold the lead for only six minutes. At that point, Benjamin Maguire scored the first try of the game for St. Albert and Simon Gregory was there to kick through the convert.
Just two minutes after Cribley knocked through his second penalty kick, St. Albert added their second try when winger Adam Bontus shot through a couple of Lep/Tigers and put the ball down in the middle of the try area for the easy convert.
St. Albert went up 21-6 in the 27th minute after a scrum deep in the Lep/Tigers end. Robinson got control of the ball and swung it to Josh Elliot, who was able to get in for the try.
“We’ve got quite a few talented guys that when they make that break, they’re going to go and that’s pretty much all it was,” Robinson said. “We weren’t setting up enough phase play today. A couple of guys would shoot a gap and then there’d be a try because their defence couldn’t recover, but against a good team, we’ll shoot that gap and we’ll be tackled shortly after. We won’t be able to run the full field like that.”
The Lep/Tigers made things close in the 56th minute when Ryan Winterton touched the ball down in the corner. It was a tough convert, almost right on the sideline, but Robbie Spence put it through to make the score 21-13.
In the 64th minute, St. Albert captain Graham Noren put the game away when he scored a try after a penalty. Gregory nailed the straight-on conversion that extended the St. Albert lead to 28-13.
Kyle Gilmour and Karim Warde added tries for St. Albert and ensured the team got the bonus point. Evan Thomas scored a second try for the Lep/Tigers just seconds before the final whistle to make the score appear a little more respectable.
Next up for St. Albert is the much-anticipated rematch with the Clansmen (5-1) on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park. The Clan has been the only team to beat St. Albert all year, a 34-12 decision, in St. Albert, on May 15.
Also at Ellerslie Saturday, St. Albert’s second team beat the Centaurs of Grande Prairie 31-20, improving their record to 5-4. They are now in second in the seven-team division, four points behind first and four points ahead of third. St. Albert has played three more games than both of those teams.
