Blues steamroll Rock in Calgary

The Ontario Blues scored a comprehensive 44-22 victory over the Atlantic Rock in the first match of the Canadian Rugby Championship on Sunday. The defending champions pulverised the Atlantic scrum and dominated the contact area, both areas that the Rock normally pride themselves on.

Alistair Clark’s try barely 80 seconds into the match seemed surreal it was so fast. Tony Pomroy made a hash of the kickoff and handed over a five metre scrum. A couple pick and go’s got them on the front foot and a quick recycle put Clark over like clockwork. Those basic errors would be the central theme of the game for the Rock.

The bad dream turned into a nightmare not five minutes later. Jimmy Norris let Andrew Ferguson’s clearance kick bounce and the Rock fullback was unceremoniously tossed into touch when he finally gathered. Scott Dunham took Ray Barkwill’s throw clean and the Rock backline could do nothing but watch as the Ontario forwards walked 30 metres straight up the field. It took 35 seconds from when Dunham caught the ball to Mike Sheppard falling over the line.

Words from Owen Parfrey mustered some energy and the Rock lifted their game. After 10 minutes of pressure Paddy McNicholas knocked over a penalty to get them on the scoreboard, but the Blues responded with another try after a terrific run from Dan Moor put Aaron Carpenter into the clear.

The Rock got another one back when Mike Hamson took a short ball from McNicholas and stepped inside two defenders to close the gap to 11 points. Ontario raised the tempo and two Derek Daypuck penalty goals stretched it out to 17 at the half.

A cheeky intercept try from Chauncey O’Toole off an overly casual back row move between Seb Pearson and Jamie Mackenzie put the Rock back with 10 points. Again the Blues replied, again through the forwards, and again it was Clark to take the plaudits.

The unbelievable happened again in the 60th minute when O’Toole plucked another one from Pearson, nearly identical to the first, and this time it was Hamson who finished the breakaway when O’Toole was nabbed by the cover defense. Pearson, clearly furious, took it upon himself to make up for it, and swatted off Pomroy to power over from 20 metres out and put the game out of reach. Josh Campbell added one more just to be sure.

In truth the scoreline flattered the Rock somewhat. The intercept tries were against the run of play and as much a combination of poor concentration and slightly liberal binding interpretation as Chauncey’s cat-like reflexes.

The forwards took a beating, there’s no way around that fact, but more upsetting would be the numerous unforced errors. Running into touch; kicking out on the full; dropping a high ball under little pressure; or not even being in position to attempt a catch. Schoolboy errors are not what you want to see from senior provincial players.

If there are positives to be taken by the Rock, it will be from the performances of Hamson and O’Toole in the back row, both of whom can hold their heads up with strong 80 minute efforts. Brett Johnson looked handy when given space, but didn’t see near enough ball to make a difference, and Colin Alexander had a couple nice touches to go with some sharp kicking.

Ontario didn’t need any standout performances, it was their big men up front who did the damage, and the backs did their jobs when asked. The scrum was in charge all day and Carpenter had a good run-out as he works his way back to match fitness. Phil Mackenzie ran hard and looked solid in defense.

Heading into Wednesday’s final the Blues will need to tighten up their lineout, which was a bit loose, and cut down on their handling errors, especially from 50/50 passes in the tackle area. They also might want to revisit the back row move that cost them two tries, though thankfully, for them anyway, there’s only one Chauncey O’Toole.

BLUES 44
Tries – A. Clark 2 (1, 55), M. Sheppard (5), A. Carpenter (21), S. Pearson (63), J. Campbell (70)
Cons – D. Daypuck 4 (2, 6, 56, 71)
Pens – D. Daypuck 2 (33, 40)

ROCK 22
Tries – M. Hamson 2 (28, 60), C. O’Toole (52)
Cons – P. McNicholas 2 (53, 61)
Pens – P. McNicholas (16)

BLUES
1 R. Brouwer (D. Sears-Duru 57) 2 R. Barkwill (L. Rumball 63) 3 D. Wooldridge (M. Tierney 68) 4 S. Dunham (H. McQueen HT) 5 M. Sheppard (P. Ciulini 57) 6 A. Carpenter 7 A. Clark 8 S. Pearson 9 A. Ferguson (J. Mackenzie HT) 10 D. Daypuck (capt.) (M. Alexander 72) 11 D. Moor 12 P. Mackenzie 13 J. Wilson-Ross 14 J. Webster (J. Campbell HT) 15 J. West

ROCK
1 F. Walsh (A. Forrest 67) 2 O. Parfrey (capt.) (J. Power 72) 3 B. Rogers (T. Rabwi 57) 4 E. Dickie (C. Browne HT) 5 B. Lester (E. Dickie 76) 6 M. Hamson 7 C. O’Toole 8 Z. Coughlan (M. Heaton HT) 9 T. Pomroy (W. Hill 72) 10 P. Parfrey (R. Law 72) 11 B. Johnson 12 C. Alexander (R. Law 37-HT) 13 C. DeBove 14 P. McNicholas (D. Pelletier 72) 15 J. Norris