Sherwood Park - Down by 14 points and two players in the sin-bin, the Great Firsts refused to lose a must-win game.
The soul stirring second-half comeback against the Strathcona Druids reached its climax with Brian Fitzpatrick’s penalty kick to put the St. Albert Rugby Football Club on top 22-19 with about 10 minutes remaining for the final score in Friday’s scrappy affair at Lynn Davies Rugby Park.
“This was a season defining game for us and a season defining victory,” stressed head coach Jeremy Kyne, his voice dripping with emotion in the post-game huddle. “It was a team effort, a club effort.”
A loss would've been dire consequences for the Labatt’s Cup provincial champions in this year’s revamped Alberta Cup premier fixtures to determine the playoff pairings. The first 15 at SARFC must place top three in the north leg of the first round to compete in the interlock fixtures with the top three in the south for qualification in the Sept. 28 provincial final.
The Druids (3-1, three bonus points), SARFC (2-2, four BP) and Nor’Westers (2-2, four BP) are in the mix from the north to advance, with the LA Crude (2-2, two BP), Clan (1-2, two BP) and Lep/Tigers (1-2) in striking distance of the leaders.
Before knocking off the Druids, a strong determined side that hasn’t looked this good since Kyne played for them back in the day, SARFC kicked off the season with uncharacteristic losses of 20-18 to the Lep/Tigers and 32-29 to the Crude before booting the Clan 62-19 in the SARFC home opener June 8.
“We passed by the skin of our teeth here today so we’ve got to keep this momentum going,” said outside-centre Duncan Maguire, a key contributor running and kicking for points. “It was very rough those two losses and since then there's definitely been a change in attitude and that’s evident from today’s game.
“We were down by two tries and down two guys in the sin-bin at the same time so we had to really dig deep and credit to all the boys.”
Maguire opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a shifty deke against a cross-legged defender past the 22-metre line and the Druids replied six minute later off a lineout following a penalty to SARFC.
In the 16th minute, Fitzpatrick’s penalty kick from inside the 40 missed the posts.
A good chunk of the first half was spent between the 40-metre lines as the teams took turns sticking their tackles with robust form. The occasional drive into scoring range was also met with stiff resistance.
With under 15 minutes to go before the break, SARFC failed to capitalize on a burst past the 22 by Orrin Farries in front of the posts as a penalty derailed the scoring chance.
The Druids countered with deep penetration for a try in the corner and the conversion kick from a long and difficult placement made it 12-5.
A knock on by SARFC outside the 22 with potential points within reach ended the first half.
“We came out hard, which was good. We’ve struggled with that so far this season,” Maguire said. “After that we kind of let off the pace for the middle 40 (minutes).”
A few minutes into the second half, Nathan Yue was sent to the sin-bin on a play that left a Druid down on the field in pain. Yue claimed it was an accidental head-to-head encounter, not an administered blow with an clenched fist, but the touch judge ruled otherwise and informed the referee about the infraction and the bellicose forward was sentenced to the penalty box behind the posts.
When play resumed in SARFC territory, the Druids quickly went to work to score a converted try to lead by 14 points.
Less than 10 minutes alter, Fitzpatrick cleared his throat too loudly over a non-call on a high tackle around the 22 of the Druids near the other touch judge and the Irish import joined Yue in purgatory.
Despite the dire straights, SARFC pinned its ears back and attacked the Druids with vengeance. Cueing the comeback was a scrum outside the 40 of the Druids, as Maguire accepted Elliott Fisher’s pass and, instead of spinning the ball left, the explosive runner bolted straight downfield with a head of steam before passing off to the equally as fast Matt Jarvis for his fourth try in two matches.
Maguire, a non-kicker, split the uprights on a makeable conversion close to the 22 with Fitzpatrick unavailable.
Nine minutes later, and Yue back on the pitch, an energized SARFC side drove the ball tight to the try line and with the Druids reeling were awarded a penalty try off a five-metre scrum to pull even at 19.
After Fitzpatrick retuned to action following the score, the Druids came very close twice to breaking the tie with heavy pressure but were unsuccessful mainly because SARFC stood its ground defensively.
As time wound down, a couple of penalties to the Druids paved the way for Fitzpatrick’s straight-ahead penalty kick from outside the 22 to put SARC on top for good.
After three matches with SARFC, the 20-year-old Fitzpatrick has quickly established himself as the most promising kicker at the club since the Ashley Hanson era.
“He’s like a tender cat in back alley with the lions chasing him,” Maguire said of Fitzpatrick. “He was wicked. He’s really marked his spot on the team and we're lucky to have him.”
Multiple substitutions down the stretch by SARFC also contributed mightily to the cause as the fresh bodies played a major role in preserving the lead against the desperate Druids.
When you have a front-row powerhouse in Andy Tiedemann, a two-time Rugby World Cup player with Team Canada, coming off the bench, that's impressive.
“Each week has kind of been a different team. That's definitely something we’ve struggled with is a consistent roster this season but it's so good to see guys step up and trying to secure their spot on the team,” Maguire said.
Arguably the man of the match was Adam Higgins at inside-centre. Higgins, the MVP of the first 15 in 2014 who hails from Bournemouth, England, was making a cameo appearance with his former club while on holidays and was a sizable force.
“Higgins is the man. We’re so lucky to have him for this game. He made some great tackles and definitely some great carries,” said Maguire, co-winner of the 2018 SARFC Club Member of the Year Award with Robin Weary.
On tap for SARFC is the Clan again and Saturday’s kick off is 4 p.m. at Airways Park.
“They’ve learned a lot from when we played them and it's going to be a completely different team, but we've got to make sure we keep focused,” said Maguire, 29, who was heckled by Clan supporters along the touchline in the last match at SARFC over what they viewed was a diminishing lack of speed by the fastest SARFC player.
SARFC closes out the first round of the fixtures at home against the Crude on July 5 and the Nor’Westers on July 13.
Kyne, the second-year SARFC field general for the men’s program, cautioned the players there is still heavily lifting to do despite the successful showing against the Druids.
“We still need to learn how to just play with our mouth shut,” Kyne pointed out. “The only thing that was probably missing a little bit today was the intensity. When you get an opportunity to smash someone I really want us to take it. I know we don’t train like that, and that's because we can't afford guys to get injured, but when we're playing out here it's man versus man and your opportunity there is to be better than them physically, mentally, skillfully, what ever it is, but we’ve got to be a little bit better each time.
“But hey, we got a good result and we're going move on from it. Good work.”
