Photo: Tanner Piper/Piper Sports Photography/3DownNation. All rights reserved.
Saskatchewan Roughriders’ head coach Corey Mace continues to support his Global CFL rookie kicker Alex Hale, despite two Week 6 misses in a 38-7 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Hale missed wide right from 35 yards to cap the Green and White’s first drive in the opening quarter. Saskatchewan’s next possession going towards Pil Country stalled out at the Ticats’ 41-yard line as Mace elected to put fellow Global Oscar Chapman on the field and punt the football.
“We know kicking towards Pil is always a challenge. I wouldn’t say it was super gusty, but it was between 25 and 35 (kilometres per hour), which is still a factor. We put Alex out there, pre-game we felt comfortable that was a spot for us to be able to hit that, we didn’t,” Mace said post-game.
“If we were probably going the other way, I’d probably put him out there. It’s understanding, I think, the flow of the game and how our defence is playing. It wouldn’t make sense to take that kind of risk going towards Pil today. Other way, probably not an issue.”
Chapman booted a punt that pinned the Tiger-Cats at the five-yard line. The 27-year-old has looked comfortable in his first year in the three-down league. He’s punted the football 22 times for 1,034 yards, a 47-yard gross average, while his net average sits a shade over 34.
“They got an explosive returner. Risk-reward understanding how our defence was playing at that time. Let’s go ahead, see if we can pin them, and then try to get them on the back end,” said Mace.
“If we can continue to play good defence and force them to punt, now we’re playing with a short field to try to get six instead of three. That was the thought process there, no doubt. If it was going the other way, probably would have put Alex out there.”
Hale converted a 32-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter, but missed a 32-yard extra point in the fourth quarter while kicking towards Pil Country. The 28-year-old Australian has made 10-of-13 field goals, 76.9 percent, and 16-of-18 extra point tries, 88.8 percent, through five games in 2026.
“Utmost confidence in Alex, man,” Mace said. “He’s been damn good for us, he’s missed a couple kicks, but he’s been good for us.”
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-1) are heading into a bye week.
