Quinn Brophy and Graeme Scott ran like the wind Saturday as St. Albert blew away the Norwesters 29-3 in second division men’s rugby.
They scored two tries apiece with long dashes as the lumbering Norwesters tripped over themselves in pursuit of the sleek speedsters.
“We definitely could run the ball against them today,” Brophy said.
His game-opening try in the third minute from the St. Albert side of the halfway line in the third minute was a thing of beauty at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
“I just dummied one guy and there was a massive hole and I just went for it,” Brophy said of his breakaway romp.
Brophy and Scott were making their first starts of the season with the seconds. Scott, a third division mainstay with scrum-half experience, made a rare appearance on the wing and turned on the jets whenever he touched the ball. Brophy has bounced around the first and second division line-ups mainly as a valuable reserve.
“It felt good to start and get a solid game in so I can work towards getting back into the firsts,” Brophy said.
The previous week with the seconds, he subbed on at the start of the second half against the last-place Druids of Strathcona. With St. Albert down 10-0, the Calgary Irish product quarterbacked the offence to an 18-10 victory.
“We started coming together in that game and today we picked up where we left off,” he said.
Leading 12-3 at halftime the seconds gradually distanced themselves from the sixth-place Norwesters (1-5-1).
“They were having loose rucks and we could’ve turned them over really easily but after a while we started picking it up. I started directing a little better too and the guys were listening. I was getting clean ruck balls on our side, which is great, and it was working real well in tight. We would do a couple of [runs into contact] and then move it out wide where we have space to work with,” said Brophy, 22.
Matt Herod added several points through kicks while patrolling the pitch at fullback. Mark Dewes was impressive up front. Head coach Chal Smyth filled in at standoff with the seconds in need of extra bodies because the third division team was also playing at the same time at Airways Park, a 31-10 loss to the Clansmen. Forwards coach Gerbil Kiernan continued his comeback from retirement at age 39 with a stint at prop in the second half.
The victory extended the team’s winning streak to four games. The previous three triumphs were come-from-behind thrillers.
Tonight at 7 p.m. the third-place seconds (4-3) play the fourth-place Clansmen (3-1) at Ellerslie Rugby Park. In the season-opener in St. Albert, the Clan beat the home team 34-20.
St. Albert’s premier women remain winless after their sixth straight loss and the fourth by shutout.
The Lep/Tigers poured in 12 tries and kicked four conversions to whip the firsts by 68 points Saturday at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
In the previous five losses the firsts averaged 77 points against. They have scored only 18 points.
“We’re getting better, for sure. I can feel it,” said fullback Amanda Lalonde. “This was one of our better games.”
The Lep/Tigers (4-1-1) scored 29 points in the first half on five tries and two conversions.
“We stayed with them. We didn’t let them get too many breaks. Our defence was there. We were tackling very hard,” Lalonde said.
Last month the Lep/Tigers hammered St. Albert 57-0 in the rain, snow and wind. In the second half the firsts only gave up one try.
“That was a hard game to tell how we would match up with them because it was just so cold out there so I knew today this would be our true match and we did very well.”
Lalonde, 21, made countless try-saving heroic tackles as the Lep/Tigers attacked in waves. A number of stops were only a yard or two from the try line. In the second half, after a Lep/Tiger snuck by her and had clearing sailing towards the try area, the former U20 Canada player tracked the player down to prevent a score with great hustle and determination.
As the last line of defence, the MVP and leading scorer with the 13-1 second division provincial champions in 2009 embraced the move from outside-centre without hesitation.
“The transition from last year to making tries to now preventing them is definitely a big transition but it’s all right. I’m OK with that position. I will keep doing it but it does put pressure on me to make sure I make all my tackles.”
At the provincial level, Lalonde made Team Alberta for the National Women’s League (NWL) championship, starting today in Toronto. Also selected to the U23 provincial side for the NWL playoffs was prop Stacie Becker and flanker Megan Lauer from the firsts. Alberta is the defending U23 champion.
