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The Prairie Wolf Pack came away victorious in their first match of the Johnsonville Canadian Rugby Championship season by a 27-21 score over the BC Bears at Calgary Rugby Park on Saturday. A dominant second half did the damage, as the Pack trailed 11-3 at the break with an upset very much on the cards.
Canadian internationals Brock Staller and Gordon McRorie swapped successful shots at goal in a tight contest, with Staller’s long-range effort nudging the Bears ahead mid-way through the half. An expansive attacking style stretched the Wolf Pack defense and handed the first try to Crosby Stewart, who took the outside to give his team a solid eight point advantage with 40 minutes played.
The second half told a very different story, however, as the Pack got their own offense going and Ben LeSage broke through for a seven-pointer. It wasn’t long before the backs were in again, this time winger Adam Bontus was left in acres of space on the outside to cross for another converted score and handing the lead to the home team for the first time in the match.
Staller landed another high-calibre penalty against the wind to bring it back to within three points. The Prairie forwards were having nothing of it. From a lineout their maul marched forward and with the help of a couple backs the weight proved too much as Casey Reed dropped over the line for the score.
BC struck back with a scintillating counter-attack started by Manar Kulkhan. The powerful winger broke two tackles before offloading to Doug Fraser, and the centre found Staller streaking up off his right shoulder to take the pull pass and glide away for an 80 metre team try. Staller converted his own to make the gap a single point with only 10 minutes to play.
The Wolf Pack responded immediately, again through their forwards. Showing no respect for their opponents’ maul defense, they walked across the line with the inevitable touchdown going to Reed once again. Robbie Povey couldn’t land the extras leaving the Bears with a glimmer of hope. A final desperate attack with John Braddock in the bin came up agonizingly short as Kulkhan was dragged into touch by a terrific Grant Crowell cover tackle to bring up the final whistle.
There won’t be long to wait for the sequel as the two pitch up against each other once again next Saturday at Bullen Park in Victoria. For now the Wolf Pack have the leg up and their first steps towards defending their MacTier Cup title, while the Bears will need to fine tune their game plan in training during the week.
WOLF PACK 27
Tries – B. LeSage, A. Bontus, C. Reed 2
Cons – G. McRorie 2
Pens – G. McRorie
Yellow cards – J. Braddock
BEARS 21
Tries – C. Stewart, B. Staller
Cons – B. Staller
Pens – B. Staller 3
PRAIRIE WOLF PACK
1 Peter Houlihan 2 Matt Harrison 3 Ryan Kotlewski 4 Conor Turner 5 Liam Beaulieu 6 Lucas Albornoz 7 Johnny Clarke 8 Clay Panga (capt.) 9 Gordon McRorie 10 Robbie Povey 11 Adam Bontus 12 Ben LeSage 13 Mozac Samson 14 Ian Shoults 15 Graham Turner
16 Casey Reed 17 John Braddock 18 Nick McAuley 19 Grant Crowell 20 Kyle Morrison 21 Jake Robinson 22 Cam Hall 23 Conor Desmond
BC BEARS
1 Anthony Luca (capt.) 2 Andrew Lackner 3 Ryan Ackerman 4 Kevin Leask 5 Craig McLaughlin 6 Brendan Kelliher 7 Ollie Nott 8 Josh Clarke 9 Jorden Sandover-Best 10 Guiseppe du Toit 11 Manar Kulkhan 12 Doug Fraser 13 Jeke Gotegote 14 Crosby Stewart 15 Brock Staller
16 Jordan Reid-Harvey 17 Nik Hildebrand 18 Cody McClary 19 Liam Chisholm 20 Admir Cejvanovic 21 Cody Rockson 22 Geoff Ryan 23 Gareth Marsden
Referee: Chris Assmus
Assistants: Michael Jones & David Crisp
