Saints rugby champion team “come along once in a career”

May 31, 2018 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

The St. Andrew’s College Saints are the CISAA rugby champions, and it was never even close.
Absolutely dominating the independent league competition with a combination of speed and size throughout the five-game regular season, St. Andrew’s had never won a game by less than 20 points.
“Teams like this come along once in a career,” said Jon Butcher, 1st Rugby head coach. “In 30 years of coaching, this is by far the best team I’ve ever seen.”
Facing the 2 – 3 Appleby College in last week’s semifinal, the Saints came out swinging with six first-half tries, taking a 34 – 5 lead into the intermission.
Wells Karabin led the way in the latter half with a pair of tries to cap off a hat-trick performance, while Campbell Clarke was able to convert an impressive four times for a final score of 68 – 5, setting up a Saturday morning championship match at SAC’s Malone Fields with the rival Upper Canada College Blues.
St. Andrew’s entered the match as the clear-cut favourites to win their first CISAA title since 2013, having taken down UCC in the final league game 52 – 10 two weeks prior, in what Butcher believes to be the largest victory over the Blues in his time with the team.
In a game where Butcher said the Saints were “simply a class above the rest”, Will Abbott and Ian Mclean each capitalized twice in a 41 – 7 final, while Matthew Hollett and William Wang added a try each.