The afternoon heat at MacDougall Rugby Park took its toll on nearly all of the 30 players on the pitch Saturday.
The exception was George Clark. The Moose Jaw Nads back hails from Queensland, Australia and had no complaints about the 30C weather.
“It’s a bit more of what I’m used to. I like it more than minus-10 anyway,” said Clark.
Justin Waddington scored a try in each half for the Nads and Paul Grajczyk converted both tries to give Moose Jaw a 14-5 win over the Saskatoon Krems in Saskatchewan Rugby Union pre-season play.
The Nads finished the pre-season with a 3-0 record and will open the regular season on the road Friday.
“It was very good. I think we only won two games last year total, so it’s going well so far,” said Rob Halsall from the Nads. “We’ve had a few more people out which is good.”
Having some substitutes on the bench certainly helps on a hot day like Saturday. The Nads numbers have been bolstered by Clark and Tom Pedley who hails from Tasmania. The two Aussies are working in Tuxford for Chute Farms and Clark said he was happy to have the chance to play while abroad.
“I heard there was rugby in Canada, but I didn’t think there would be a team in Moose Jaw,” said Clark.
“Rugby is good anywhere I suppose. It’s not any below the standard I’m used to. It’s good to have a run-around.”
The Nads foreign contingent also features Fergal Kearney from Limerick, Ireland who has been in Moose Jaw for 18 months.
Waddington scored late in each half on similar tries. In both cases the Nads earned a penalty about a dozen yards out and restarted play by passing to Waddington who managed to fight his way through a few Krems tackles to stretch over the try line.
They could only cut the lead to 7-5 after missing the convert. Waddington’s second try with two minutes left iced the game.
