Canucks beat St Albert by a point

In a close contest at the Calgary Rugby Union today, the Calgary Canucks got a try with ten minutes to go and edged the 2016 provincial champions St Albert by a single point to win the game 13-12.

The Canucks opened the scoring after twenty minutes of play with a penalty to St Albert for not releasing the ball in the tackle. Some handling errors by the home team took away a couple of try-scoring opportunities then, just as the first half was closing out, St Albert took the lead with a try scored by Aaron Weicker, working a nice scissor move down the right wing with the full-back. The try under the posts was converted making it 3-7 at the turnaround.

Things went back the other way for the Canucks in less than two minutes from the restart. Josh Bentley finished off a nice move across the pitch from line-out possession on the left side. No conversion for the try but the Beaver Boys were ahead, 8-7.

After seventeen minutes, a lengthy discussion between the match officials and then with the captains led to St Albert’s number 22 being yellow-carded. Despite their loss upfront, St. Albert put forward pressure on the Canucks line and in a tap penalty move, the hooker, Robert Blunden, went over the line to make it 8-12.

With ten minutes remaining, the Canucks put some much better handling skills together and from their own half set up a sequence of passes that put number 21 into the right corner. Too far out for the conversion but it was just enough for the home side to win, 13-12.

For more photographs from the game, please visit:

J. Ashley Nixon Photography