The Banff Bears men’s rugby club’s promising season came to a gut wrenching end on Saturday (Sept. 19) when the Calgary Saracens pulled off a stunning upset, edging the Bears 27-22 in Calgary Rugby Union Tier III semi-finals.
Even though the two teams finished with identical 9-4 records, Banff had defeated the Saracens by 50 points during the regular season, but too many mistakes cost the team dearly.
“We didn’t really play up to the standard we should have. We had some good moments, but we had too many handling errors and penalties against us,” said coach Darrell Cranny. “They were very physical and pushed us to our limits in scrums and set pieces.”
While the season ended much too early for a team with championship aspirations, many younger players took on larger roles with the club, and the team should be stronger next season. Player numbers were up, and the team plans to field a Division II and III squad soon – just not next year.
“It was a good and fun season. There were some great days out there on the field. Unfortunately, we had some bad days as well. All in all, I’m happy to have been there coaching a great bunch of guys and I look forward to seeing what we can do next year,” Cranny said.
