RUGBY UNION
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ST Alberts showed it had learnt from past mistakes against Barbarians on Saturday.
Last time the two sides met Albies led with 10 minutes to go only to be overrun.
On Saturday the students found themselves in an almost identical situation.
With 10 remaining it was 18-17 their way.
This time though it was they that came up with the decisive play with outside centre Alex Pay kicking three long-range penalty goals in the space of about ten minutes to kick clear.
They then scored in the final seconds to seal a 32-17 win.
Pay had a mixed day with the boot but nailed them when it counted.
“He missed his first four,” coach Tom Newsome said.
He always felt they were on top but admitted to a few concerns when there was only a point in it, especially after the first round.
It was a tough game. Baas played well, he said.
So to did Albies – both in attack and defence.
“We were defending on our line for long periods,” Newsome said.
“We soaked that up and when we got our opportunities we took them.”
As happy as they were with the win, they were equally as happy to get the four tries and how the tries were scored.
“We got back to some of our traditional play,” Newsome said.
They played it a bit wider and, as they’d spoken about, minimised their mistakes.
They didn’t eliminate them but they didn’t make as many, which meant there was more opportunities for the backs. The backs were the source for all four tries with Jacob Booby bagging two and Charlie Sykes and Travis Saxby one each.
Pay got the three points and Newsome noted one kick in general play where he caught the ball on the 22 and then banana kicked it to land 10m out from the Baa Baas’ line.
Back at half-back Nick Smith got the two while captain Joe Masters picked up the one.
The signs were promising for Baa Baas early, scoring first.
“We were looking good and had a lot of enthusiasm and talk,” coach Sam Piddington said.
And the things that they’d worked on at training were coming through.
But they couldn’t sustain it with Albies having too much strikepower out wide,
“They went through us a couple of times out wide,” he said.
That enabled them to skip away.
“The boys kept trying hard,” Piddington said.
“We’re improving every week.”
He thought their communication in attack and defence was a big improvement on Saturday.
Fullback Keith Ellis was the players pick and also picked up the three points.
Skipper Nick Dooner got the two. He was battling a shoulder injury and had to come off a couple of times for attention but kept on playing.
The one went to winger Adam Burt.
This is his first year of rugby. He’d hardly even played football before, Piddington said, and is improving each week.