CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Alex Hall accounted for 13 points kicking the ball Saturday, but his biggest play came when his team was on defence.
With his Hunter’s Corner Mudmen RFC squad clinging to a 28-24 lead, Hall was one-on-one with a bigger Moncton Black Tide player and the game’s outcome hanging in the balance.
“I knew when I saw him outside there, about to get the ball, there was only one option, that was him going down,” Hall said. “I just had to make sure I stuck my tackle and put him on the ground.”
He executed the play and the division two Mudmen became Maritime champions.
“There’s no better feeling than knowing that the game is on the line and you take the guy down,” Hall said. “You can just hear the rumbling of the fans going crazy.”
His coach Eddie Macdonald saw the play developing and watched his second-year player rise to the occasion.
“I was watching him come (up) and said, he’s going to have to make this tackle otherwise (Moncton is) scoring, and the game is over’,” he said. “And he made a great tackle. He hit him hard, he dropped him, and we rallied around it.”
The victory clinched the Wheaton Cup and propelled P.E.I. to a 3-0 day on the rugby pitch at UPEI. The Panthers defeated the Saint Mary’s Huskies in university women’s action and the Mudmen won the division one championship to cap the day off.
Ben Fradsham, a 19-year-old Marshfield resident in his first season with the Mudmen, had two tries, one late in the first half and the winner in the second half. Jonathan Murphy also scored a try while Hall had three kicks and two converts.
Moncton had built a 24-13 lead before Fradsham scored to make the score 24-20 at the half.
“We were able to score before half and steal the momentum back,” said veteran Mudman Phil Gallant. “We knew at halftime we were the better team and we just had to execute.”
Fradsham, who scored the go-ahead try in the corner, said he was the beneficiary of others’ hard work.
“It’s a huge team effort to get the ball out there and then it’s just fire me through a hole,” he said.
Moncton applied the pressure and pinned the Mudmen deep in its own territory for what felt like an eternity. The defence bent but didn’t break and had numerous goal-line stands.
“My heart was in my throat the entire time, I’m not going to lie to you,” Macdonald said. “It’s the old saying, defence wins championships and that was evident today. Our defence stood up when it had to. . .
“We kept pushing them backwards and they were dropping balls because they were getting hit hard.”
“It’s a relief,” Fradsham added. “That’s probably the most stressful half of rugby I’ve ever played in my life.”
