Game Report: Sat. June 19, 2004

Mens 1st's
Aurora Barbarians R.F.C. 17- Brampton RFC 15

This was a game dictated by the wind blowing Force 4-5 from the Northwest, straight down the pitch. Aurora Barbarians kicked-off with the wind behind their backs, and both teams struggled through the opening 10 minutes as the combination of the windy conditions and nerves limited continuity of play.

At 13 minutes Aurora Barbs scrum-half Rob Ashwood hoisted a perfect box-kick to the Brampton 22, and Fullback Damon McLaughlin sprinted down field to catch the ball and run under the posts for the games opening try. Mark Healy added the conversion.

Four minutes later Aurora Barbs set-up a series of mauls and drove to the Brampton 22 when the ball went down the back line and Flanker Shaun Allen was backing–up to receive a pass and score a well executed try in the corner. The attempted conversion was wide and Aurora Barbs were 12-0 up, and appeared to be establishing a measure of control on the game.

Brampton R.F.C. would have none of this and came storming back to score two unconverted tries in the space of two minutes to break back into the game.

At 34 minutes, Aurora Barbs hooker, Rob Carter received a Yellow Card for collapsing a maul, and Brampton used their advantage to move into Aurora Barbs end of the field – on the stroke of half-time Brampton scored their third unconverted try of the afternoon to end the half with Brampton 15 Aurora Barbarians 12.

In the second half Brampton elected to use the wind with a more basic game plan of kicking for field advantage and Aurora Barbarians started to exploit a combination of trail ball and rolling mauls to drive up the field. 2nd Row Ollie Atkinson and #8 Mark Franklin, (alias Franklin), made a number of powerful runs at the Brampton defence.

For the first 35 minutes of the second half, play flowed up and down the field with neither team able to break the opposition defence. The game was tense and dramatic for the spectators as Brampton held on to the narrow three point advantage. With three minutes to go, Aurora Barbarians won a ruck at the mid-field and moved the ball to winger Dean van Camp who showed the powerful running and determination of a great winger – Dean elected to beat his opposite number on the outside by a combination of speed and angle and scored a remarkable try from 35 yards into the corner – unfortunately the conversion attempt hung up in the wind and Aurora Barbs regained the lead at 17 – 15.

Brampton elected to kick deep at the re-start and swarmed down field for a last attempt to score and regain the lead. Referee Dan Berry, who enjoyed a good display of "reffing", spotted an Aurora Barbs player not releasing from a ruck and set–up a last minute Brampton penalty attempt from the 22 metre line right up against the touch line – the attempt was wide of the mark and within seconds of the restart Referee Dan blew up for a well earned Aurora Barbarians victory by the narrow margin of two points.

With this win Aurora Barbarians moved up the league table to 6th place and a season record of two wins and three losses, with a game in hand. This was a much improved display by the forwards and good play by the backs in difficult windy conditions. There were a number of good performances, capped off by Dean’s excellent try – all round a good, hard earned win. The game also sets up and interesting return fixture with Brampton in August in the second half of the season.

Mens 2nds
ABRFC 34 - Brampton RFC 5

Continued hard work and the beginnings of a more consistent side working together at training proved to be the engine that drove the II's to victory this weekend in Brampton.

A welcome return to the fold was Peter Keir at inside center, who showed no signs of having slowed down after over a month away re-habing a knee ligament injury (and a fat lip).

Notwithstanding the last-minute call up of a few players to the 1st team to cover injuries, we were left with a solid squad to take on a talented Brampton 2nd XV. This was a very different Brampton side than we saw in the pre-season, and they kept us pinned in our half for a good part of the first half. A couple of lucky breaks for us, and some dropped balls by Brampton were all that kept them off the scoreboard during much of the first half.

The wind was stronger than we had seen yet this summer, and luckily we were able to put some points up against the wind in the first half, which made running and kicking down the field with the wind in the second half a well earned reward.

Although we had a solid back line on this day, it seems the forwards are continuing their dominance on the scoreboard with 4 of 5 tries being scored by pack players after some controlled rucking and mauling from only a few yards out.

Try scorers on this day were once again "The Shrinking" Dave Miller ( close to 35 lbs lost since spring training! ) , Loose Forward Rob Kruus maintained his streak also with another notch on his belt, as did Kai Sorensen at scrum half. The two other tries were scored by Neil Dunn deservedly playing up from the 3rd team, and by replacement hooker Jordan Ross who took advantage of a small hole on the goal line and fought his way to ground the ball for the 5 pointer. .

Three conversions and a penalty were notched by fly half Stu Hulbert whose foot was definitely golden once again. He made great use of the wind in the second half to keep us down in the Brampton end on attack.

A well earned win that sees the 2nd team just a point behind our next opponent, 4th place Markham (with a game in hand) .

Women’s 1st's (O.W.L.)
Aurora Barbarians R.F.C. 3 - Irish Canadians R.C. 22

The Aurora Barbs lost a really tough one to the Toronto Irish on Saturday at Fletcher’s Fields. As in the game against the Scottish last week, the Barbs stormed down the field at the opening whistle and pinned the Irish against their goal line for 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the game featured three significant injuries which resulted in visits to the local hospitals. (Virginia, Erica and Hayley are sore, but are slowly recovering). At the half, it was 12 - 3 for the Irish, but then it was Aurora’s turn to face the heavy winds. The Irish scored two more late tries to make it 22 - 3. Tara Doctorow kicked the penalty for the Barbs. The First team next plays Brantford, tentatively scheduled for Thursday night.

Women’s 2nd's (T.R.U.) - (Tues. June 15, 2004)
Aurora Barbarians R.F.C. 5 - Irish Canadians R.C. 12

The Women’s seconds team played a tough game against the Irish 2nds but came up on the short end of a 12 - 5 score. While the Aurora backs occasionally made headway against the Irish backs, the forwards had a long day against a strong scrum. (Meaghan Sheahan - dislocated shoulder) Aurora’s try was scored by Sarah Moussadji in the second half. The seconds next play Peterborough 2 on Saturday.