Josh Aldrich
Monday June 12, 2006
The new cleats gave Noble a little extra traction on a rain-soaked E.S. Laird field as he scored two big tries for the Accurate Machining Reapers – and narrowly missed a third when he was ruled out of the end zone before he touched down – as they upset the powerful Saskatoon Badgers 24-7.
“They made all the difference in the world,” joked Noble. “It was a nice day out, not too cold, but it was also our first home game, let’s put it too them. I’m glad I had a good game and hope the season only gets better.”
Noble scored early in the first half when he picked off a Badgers lateral deep in Reapers territory and took the ball the length of the field to make the score 10-0 Lloyd. Then early in the second half Noble finished off a segment of hard work by the Reapers as he punched a second try over the line to make the score 17-7 Reapers.
Brad Noble closed out the scoring late in the game when he dove for the end zone and just got the ball in with a Badger all over him for the try.
The win was a big one for the Reapers as they beat their first true contender for the Saskatoon City title as top team in the Saskatchewan Rugby Union. The Badgers are seemingly in the final with the Wild Oats every season and were expected to be back again this season.
“Nobody one likes losing to Lloyd, we’re the little guys in the league, we’re not expected to do very good this year, they just thought they’d let us in and have their way with us,” said Reapers captain Shane Wald. “Now that they’re not, they realize we’re here to win and they’re coming up against some tough competition and they don’t like it.”
The effort by the Reapers even caught the attention of the Badgers who admitted it may be a three horse race this year.
“It’s pretty early in the season, we’ve got quite a few new guys we’re trying to work in here,” said Badgers captain Lee Dixon. “I think the second division is pretty close league and at the end of the year everyone makes the playoffs and anything can happen. I’m sure they’ll be pushing for the city title as well.”
As the game wore on the chippier it got, much of it coming from the visitors who were not used to being in a trailing position.
“We are here to win, we are not here to play dirty on the ground and step on people unless it’s called for, the fact they did it in the game, it wasn’t called for,” said Wald. “We just held up our heads and put it up on the score board instead of in our fists.”
The Reapers next action will now be a rematch with the Badgers, also in Saskatoon on June 23rd.
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