The Foothills Lions were minutes away from a dream start in their return to men’s rugby.
Their opposition Calgary Canucks had other ideas, spoiling the Division III season opener with two trys in the final 10 minutes to steal the 26-25 triumph Friday at the Calgary Rugby Park.
“Losing by one point is a little bit heartbreaking,” said Lions club captain Nathan Marquardt. “But from what we’re trying to do, the development we’re trying to cause and the game we’re trying to create I was very happy with the boys performance.”
From resolute goal line defence, strong support play and sublime kicking there was a lot to like from the Foothills contingent other than the numbers on the scoreboard.
The Canucks, a much more veteran and sizeable outfit to the Lions, put Foothills on its heels for most of the opening half – but had little to show for it.
Mat Hodgson dove over the try-line on the left sideline to break the deadlock only to have the Canucks march down and score off the subsequent kick-off. The Canucks added another major on a short yardage run only to have Foothills scrum-half Stephen Powell break loose for a 50 yard try – his first with the team – to cut the deficit to 14-12 at the half.
Foothills had the wind at its back following the restart and the change in weather brought about a change in fortune for the squad.
“We were playing fairly passive with our back three guys in the first half due to the wind we weren’t sure what kind of 10 and kicking game they were going to pull out on us,” Marquardt added. “In the second half we were able to commit our guys farther in offence and do the running rugby we really like to play. Our forwards are much happier moving forward into the rucks with a little bit of momentum.”
Foothills did its best work while shorthanded after Kaden Mior was handed a red card.
Kaden’s father Jamie got the last touch on the outside and dove in to the try-zone to give Foothills the lead right back early in the half.
“We really focused on our communication in the defensive line because you’re always playing a man short there is going to be a gap somewhere,” Marquardt said. “The chatter has to go up and everybody needs to know where that gap is and the boys did an incredible job.”
They would increase the advantage to eight points when Ben Rogers, making his return to the squad after a few years away, corralled an overthrown pass and scored from the wing position.
“I think they gassed out a little more than we did in the second half,” said Lions fly-half Dan Larson. “They were a little slower getting to breakdowns.
“There was a little bit of missed execution, but we found our strength and weaknesses which is what we were going for. We’ve got a lot of fast, young guys.”
Larson added a penalty kick, which bounced off the bottom bar and over, from about midfield to make it an 11-point game.
Someone forgot to tell the Canucks the game was over.
Calgary used its edge in size to bully its way in for consecutive scores to steal the result.
“We’re so small and fast and they’ve got this huge scrum and we’re down a guy in the scrum,” said Larson. “I’m trying to play nine when I’ve never played it before. I think it was a combination of things.”
Match fitness might have also been a factor.
“Fitness and speed is going to be one of our bigger assets against teams this year,” Marquardt said. “You could tell at 60 minutes some guys started gassing. Fitness is going to be a big focus so that we can continue to maintain that intensity throughout the 80 minutes.”
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