LRC men come up short against Hornets
Chalk it up to a lesson learned for the Lethbridge Rugby Club men’s second division team.
The LRC dropped a close 41-34 decision to the Calgary Hornets during Calgary Rugby Union action Saturday afternoon at the Lethbridge Rugby Club.
Lethbridge battled to the shadow of the Hornets goal post in the final minute in a spirited final push, but were unable to get across as the Hornets hung on to hit the road with the win.
The win was also payback for the Hornets, who lost 38-35 to the LRC last week in Calgary, a game in which the LRC also had a last-minute push, but was able to capitalize with the winning try.
But on Saturday, there was no replay of the week before as the LRC took the loss that puts them at 3-3.
“It was that last 30 seconds where I thought there were three mental letdowns in a row. We know we have to possess the ball and work the ball toward the middle,” said LRC coach Nevin Morrison. “When you’re down seven points you don’t need to just try in the corner, you probably really need to give your kicker one good shot and start working that toward the post, build pressure and score the try. I think we have the ability to do that if we played smart rugby.”
Still, the LRC did manage to fight back in the second half after digging themselves in a hole in the first half.
“We were down 18 points at the half and we battled back and actually took the lead by three,” said Morrison. “They scored a try and hit a kick, so they got up by seven. We were building pressure, we just couldn’t close it, whereas last week we won on the last play of the game. Sometimes you win them, sometimes you lose them. But you learn from those kinds of mistakes.”
Brandon Gerhardt scored a pair of tries for the LFC, while Eli Bullen and Tyrell Graham added the other Lethbridge tries.
“I think it is a lot tougher to lose when it’s close like that,” said Gerhardt. “There were a lot of heads down today. What he (Morrison) was saying is you can’t coach that in practice, it’s just game experience to know coming down to the last minute and the last play to hold it tight and make it work or to play expansive.”
As they wrap up their June schedule, Saturday’s setback can go into the memory banks until all three LRC teams return to action in midJuly.
“We have a lot of young guys and those are lessons we can learn from those games,” said Morrison. “You just have to have that presence of mind and it’s hard when you’re young. It’s going to take some time. But some of those young guys will see I wasn’t super-happy and will remember that and the next time they’re in that scenario they’re going to realize ‘OK, I’m going to move forward and do something different.’”
The teams will take a three-week breather and return to action July 15.
The second division men’s team will head to Calgary to face the Canucks, the LRC women’s team travels to Red Deer to take on the Titans, while the third division men’s team will be at the LRC to host Calgary Foothills.
“We have a bit of a break,” said Gerhardt. “We just played these guys back-to-back and won by three the game before. We just set the bar as to where we stand in the league and that’s the third place team. Our goal is a high level of playoffs and I think that’s something to try and achieve.”