St. Albert's premier men are one win away from a third straight trip to the provincial final after kicking off their Alberta Cup playoffs with a decisive shutout decision.
Three tries apiece by fullback Matt Herod and British import Karim Lynch propelled the firsts past the lowly Red Deer Titans 60-0 Saturday in the last home game of the year at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
"Our defence was amazing today. That's probably what won us the game," said Aaron Millard, an underrated hooker on the team's star-studded line-up.
On tap this Saturday for the 2008 and 2009 provincial finalists are the rival Clansmen. Game time is 5 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park. The winner will battle the Calgary Hornets, the defending champions and this year's pennant winners, or the Calgary Canucks for the Labatt Cup on Sept. 25 at Calgary Rugby Park.
"We want to get back to provincials again. We want to bring home that trophy hopefully this time," Millard said. "We've definitely got our work cut out for us against a really strong side. We're going to have to put in lots of work at training and get it done."
In the premier table St. Albert placed second at 10-2 and the Clan was fourth at 8-4. In the second week of the schedule the Clan shocked the firsts 34-12 in St. Albert. The Clan were so overjoyed by their rare win on St. Albert's pitch, they took a team picture under the posts after the historic result.
The rematch in July was a heated affair decided on a dramatic penalty kick by British import Simon Gregory. Late in the match he split the uprights for winning points as St. Albert prevailed 18-16.
"As long as we're focused on coming out we're going to give any team a really hard go at it," Millard said.
Wolf Pack
The firsts will scrum down without flanker Kyle Gilmour. The first division team's MVP in 2008 and the Edmonton Rugby Union's senior player of the year in 2009 will be starting for the Calgary-based Prairie Wolf Pack against The Rock in the inaugural Canadian Rugby Championship final Saturday in St. John's, Nfld. The game will be aired live on CBC, starting at noon.
"There is a lot on the line with us losing the provincial championship two years in a row so it's up to the rest of the guys to win and then I will be back for the final," said Gilmour, 22, who intercepted a pass near the halfway line late in the first half against the Titans and ran it back for a try.
Scrum-half Jake Robinson is another Wolf Pack prospect for the final. He made the 22-man roster for the 27-24 loss Sept. 4 at the home of The Rock.
Last month Robinson and prop Graham Noren were on Wolf Pack's roster in the 15-13 win over the Ontario Blues in Calgary.
Kyle Baille, a transplanted Maritimer in the forwards, also has ties with The Rock, undefeated in three games.
"They're a big bunch of guys that keep it tight. They play very physical so it's going to be up to us to take it to them with our attacking style and not wait for them to come at us," said Gilmour, who scored two ties in three starts for the 2-1 Wolf Pack.
The former high school standout with the St. Albert Skyhawks is playing a prominent role with the Wolf Pack after trying out for the all-star team last year.
"I was held out in most of the games because I had an injury. This year I wanted to start and I set that as my goal. I made that clear to the coach and he made me an offer to do it and I was able to do it," he said. "The level of rugby is a definite step up. It's a good way to push myself and try and further my rugby."
Gilmour has been a Wolf Pack fixture since the opening game of the four-team round robin draw.
"I had some pretty big butterflies in my stomach going into the first game [41-6 win over the B.C. Bears in Calgary on Aug. 14] but as soon as the ball kicked off everything was gone out the window. I was just playing rugby in my own zone and it was good," he said. "It's a great group of guys and even though it's been a short season it's been a real good season for us."
Because of Wolf Pack commitments, Gilmour and Robinson were unavailable in St. Albert's last game before the playoffs, a disturbing 26-10 loss to the Hornets in Red Deer on Sept. 2 that snapped a nine-game winning streak. Not only did it decide first place as the Hornets finished 11-1, it also proved their 24-22 victory over St. Albert in the 2009 provincial final wasn't a fluke.
"We knew we had to come out a lot more focused today than we did for that game. A lack of focus was the main contributor in the loss," Millard said.
Consecutive tries by Herod in the blink of an eye after the opening kick off pretty much sealed the deal against the seventh-place 5-7 Titans. On the first try, Brett Kelly passed the ball to Robinson, who beat one defender before dishing it off Herod. He motored outside and used a strong stiff arm to fend off the winger before crossing the try line. Herod's second try was a great phase play by the forwards. After the ball was spun wide to the backs, Herod finished off some crisp passing by Gregory and the centres en route to the try area.
Early in the second half, and the firsts up by 34 points, Herod completed the hat trick with Edwin Shimenga doing the muscle work on the play.
Rounding out the scoring were a pair of tries by the cagy Robinson and one try by Braedon Platten, a second division call-up. The last try by the firsts was Lynch's third of the game. The leading candidate for the team's MVP award picked off a pass and waltzed into the try area untouched. Gregory added five conversions in the blowout.
The firsts even played short a player for 15 minutes in the second half, when forward Dominik Jenni was sent to the sin bin for using excessive force while planting a Titan into the ground.
"It was a good, hard game but we didn't really play to our full potential. We came out with a win, and that's the important thing, but we've got a lot of work to do still," said Millard, 26, a high school rugby product of the Bellerose Bulldogs.
