ST Albert’s got it over sparring partners Robb College again on Saturday to jump up to second on the New England standings at the conclusion of the first round.
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The annual Parent’s Weekend clash produced a tight affair with Albies getting home 34-29.
It was a game that ebbed and flowed, Albies co-coach Tom Newsome said.
“We were probably on top for most of it but Robb seemed to come away with points most times they were down our end,” Newsome said.
The Albies forwards particularly were good and laid the foundations for the win.
“They dominated the set piece,” Newsome said.
“They took half a dozen tight heads off them and scored a pushover try.”
The lineouts also functioned well and their dominance in the set pieces afforded the backs plenty of ball.
The forwards were also great in defence.
“We were really happy with our forwards’ defence on the side of the ruck,” Newsome said.
“They weren’t that good there last week.”
The only disappointing thing was they didn’t put Robb away when they had the chance, he said.
The front row’s efforts didn’t go unrewarded, with Rohan Leach, Harry Pye and James Guest getting all the points but Newsome said Ollie Bartlett and Charlie Lockyer particularly could have got points too.
Lockyer was probably the pick of the backs, while Bartlett had an outstanding game.
“We’re fortunate we’ve got some big mobile blokes in the forwards,” Newsome said.
Robb coach Dave Schmude said Albies played well.
“We had patches of good play,” Schmude said.
“The thing that broke us was just our mistakes.”
They made a lot of unforced errors.
“The boys were really up for it but I think they tried to do too much,” he said.
“Albies, to their credit, capitalised on our mistakes in our quarter.”
Things like knocking-on from kick-off receives.
“Any continued pressure we were trying to build, all of a sudden the release valve was gone,” Schmude said.
They had limited possession in the first half but, playing into the wind, Schmude thought the 10-point lead Albies had at the break was manageable.
“To close the gap in the second half we had to be the team to score first,” he said.
That didn’t quite happen, with Albies scoring off a mistake from Robb about eight minutes in to stretch their lead.
“All of a sudden it felt like we were playing catch-up,” he said.
It didn’t help that Albies’ set pieces were good.
The Robb backs only had limited opportunities but they did well with the opportunities they had.
They topped the points, with five-eighth Jack Grant picking up the three, Andy Turbayne the two and breakaway Dave Lebuc the one.
