The Bears men’s rugby team couldn’t have asked for a better way to open its 40th anniversary Calgary Rugby Union season, as the Banff squad dismantled the Calgary Rams 64-0 at the Banff Rec Grounds, Saturday (May 14).
The home team defence was Canadian shield solid and the deadly hydra that is the Bears offence reared its many heads to flay the Rams thoroughly.
“I’m not going to lie, I didn’t see that coming. Scoring 10 tries is a pretty heavy score line. 64-0 is a pretty heavy score line. The Rams aren’t a bad club. They are not a pushover club,” said Banff head coach Brad Brewer.
Centre Brendan Lee scored two tries and kicker Josh Bartlett hit seven of 10 kicks to power the offence, while the defence was tight across the board. The Bears dominated whistle to whistle, rarely giving up possession of the ball.
“Defensively, we were almost perfect. We were perfect in the sense of the score line. We made our tackles, we made them turn the ball over, we pressured the back line. They can’t score if they don’t have the ball and we kept 90 per cent of possession. They just didn’t touch the ball,” said Brewer.
The win was exactly what the head coach wanted to see from his team in the home opener, as it sets the groundwork for another big run at a championship banner. The Bears appear to have a very deep bench this season, and are comfortable spreading the ball around.
Brewer said the entire team was strong, but singled out Bartlett, Dom Amon, Jesse Shaw, Joey Knight and Brendan Lee for excellent play.
“Brendan Lee and Don Amon led the back line very well. They tackled hard – they were a bright spot today. Jesse Shaw and Joey Knight came in the second row. Joey, who has very little rugby experience, caught a kickoff and ran for 70 yards,” Brewer said. “It was a pretty dominant display and exactly how I wanted the guys to start the season.”
For the first time in years, the Banff squad has enough players for an intrasquad game, which will get under way May 21 at 1 p.m. at the Rec Grounds. They will play at home again on June 4, when they take on the Calgary Saracens.
Brewer hopes to see the same intensity and dominance as the season continues to roll.
“We played really well. Everything seemed to go our way. We had an idea of how we wanted to structure our play. Even the replacements who came in, they played the way we wanted them to play,” Brewer said.
