St. Albert’s second division men failed to nail down home-field advantage in the semifinals Saturday when they got hammered by the first-place LA Crude.
The 45-12 loss dropped the seconds (6-6) into third place in the Edmonton Rugby Union (ERU). They will now play the second-place Clansmen (7-5) Sept. 11 at Airways Park. The winner advances to the ERU final Sept. 18 at Ellerslie Rugby Park. The provincial final is Sept. 25 at Calgary Rugby Park.
“As disappointing as today was, we’ve got to put it in the past now and look forward to the playoffs and start all over again,” said Sean LeLacheur, the team leader and second row player.
On their home pitch the shell-shocked seconds gave up seven tries and the Crude (11-1) converted five of them.
“We knew it was a big game for us and that’s why it’s so frustrating,” LeLacheur said. “We kind of knew what their game plan was going to be coming into the game. There was a good 15 to 20 minutes where we actually did what we wanted to do but they did a good job of knocking us around.”
The game got off to a rocky start, as referee Sandy Nesbitt kicked coach Gareth Scott off the sideline in the 12th minute for excessive chirping.
A converted try by the Crude in the 22nd minute opened the scoring, en route to a 19-0 lead at halftime.
Trailing by 33 points, the seconds got on the scoreboard with a try by Justin (Bomber) Armitt.
It was 38-5 when Frank Lucas finished off a long, spirited run by Nathan Reis. Lucas also kicked the conversion.
“They’re obviously a real good team,” LeLacheur said of the Leduc-based Crude that beat the seconds 35-12 in May. “We’re hoping to see them again in a few weeks in the playoffs. We know the things that we need to work on now.”
This is St. Albert’s first year in the second division after winning the 2007 ERU and provincial championships while going 18-1 overall.
“Making the playoffs was our goal to start the season. It was what we thought we could achieve but it’s more than a lot of other people thought we could do,” said LeLacheur, 25, a high school rugby product of the Paul Kane Blues. “A lot of teams kind of wrote us off because we went from having teams in the third and first divisions last year to having one-two-three division teams. They thought our second division team would be kind of a walk through but we surprised a lot of people. A lot of guys stepped up and got incredibly better throughout the season.”
St. Albert’s third division men wrapped up a losing season Saturday by going down to defeat 65-10 to the Edson Axmen (12-0-1).
The thirds (4-9) finished eighth out of 10 teams. Their status for the shield consolation playoff draw was unclear at press time.
Last year the thirds settled for second best in the ERU final for the second year in a row, losing 24-11 to the Axmen, a second-division calibre team that bowed out in the third division provincial final in 2009.
This year’s thirds were extremely young with veterans like 42-year-old flanker Eric Wynychuk leading the way on and off the field.
“We wanted to have teams in all three divisions this year instead of two like last year. We want the young guys to start in thirds and let them get stronger so they move up into seconds and then get into premier,” Wynychuk said. “It’s all about keeping the young guys around. We want to stay strong as a club. We want to have 60 guys out at training and we need these young guys in order to do that.”
However, it was the salty veterans in the starting 15 that did the scoring against the visiting Axmen. Chal Smyth, head coach of the St. Albert men’s program, finished off a series of rucks in the 34th minute to make it 24-5. Graeme Scott rattled the post with the conversion. It was 58-5 when Liam Hutchinson founded a hole wide enough to slip through for the team’s second try.
The Axmen carved up St. Albert’s defence for 10 tries and kicked tons of points. Their line-up included former St. Albert Storm and Alberta Golden Bears’ linebacker James McConnell, an RCMP officer stationed in Hinton. The former Paul Kane and St. Albert senior men’s rugby player is coming off a wrist injury and played it safe at fullback.
The loss ended a brief two-game winning streak for the thirds. Both wins were by shutouts.
“When you have a tough season like we did, you want to keep it fun for the young guys and let them know that mistakes happen and not to dwell on it. Their improvement comes in their confidence and a lot of them improved in leaps and bounds in confidence,” Wynychuk said. “As the old guy I like to teach them what the fun side of rugby is all about. I want to pass on the culture of rugby and talk about the old times and let them know the history so it doesn’t die.”
