Game Report: Sat. June 26, 2004

It was “Black Saturday” (i.e. a Barbs sweep at the senior and minis levels) on June 26, with 10 wins for the day!

Aurora Barbarians Minis
The Aurora Mini-Rugby program is up and running, and by all accounts running tremendously well. Two co-edAurora teams, the U10s and the U12s, played in a tournament in Markham Saturday. The U10s won all three of their games and the U12s won two of three games. Aurora player and dad, Dino Manoukas said that after watching those games, he felt that the future of Barbs’ rugby looked excellent.

Aurora Barbarians First Women’s Team (O.W.L.)
Aurora Barbs 29 - Brantford 5
The Aurora Barbs traveled to Brantford to playing in a teeming rainstorm on Thursday night. Regardless of the poor playing conditions, the Barbs came on strong all evening to defeat their hosts, 29 - 5. Aurora’s tries were scored by Andrea Yeung, Tara Doctorow, Lauren Campbell and two by Sarah Moussadji. Tara Doctorow also kicked two converts. The firsts are next scheduled to play Brampton.

Aurora Barbarians Second Women’s Team (T.R.U.)
Aurora Barbs 29 - Peterborough 0
The Women’s seconds team hosted Peterborough 2 at Williams S.S. on Saturday morning. The Barbs played their most disciplined match yet, controlling the low of play virtually the whole game. Four tries were scored by backs: Val Evans, Ashley Walker, Lauren Campbell and Alex Rink. One try was scored by a forward, Captain Kim Jack. Val Evans also kicked two converts.

Aurora Barbarians First Men’s Team (Marshall Division)
Aurora Barbs 44 - Markham 7
The First Men’s team won a definitive game over Markham on Saturday in Markam. The Markham team struck first to score a try around the 5 minute mark, but then the Barbs took over. Aurora quickly answered with a try of its own, and then punched in three more by halftime to make it 24 - 7. In the second half it was virtually all Barbs with four more tries scored. Markham scored a consolation try in the dying minutes to make it 44 - 12. Scoring for Aurora were: Marco DiGirolamo, Jason McLachlan, Ivan Barron, Mark Franklin, Bart Hennessey, and two by Dave Neilson. Mark Healey kicked two converts. The First Team plays a make-up game against the York Yeomen on Wednesday evening.

Aurora Barbarians Second Men’s Team (Marshall Division)
Aurora Barbs 24 - Markham 22
The club had been looking forward to this day for some time, as Markham has been performing well in the Marshall the last couple of years, and a solid showing would be a good gauge of where we stand in this Division. A little friendly rivalry between some old team mates may have also added to the anticipation of the day!

After the 3rd XV executed their best win of the season, it was time for the 2nd XV to take the field.

The 2's got off to another slow start letting the Markham centers attack us through the middle. Markham's scrum half ( an Aurora Alumni ) also wreaked havoc at the back of our scrums, and stole a great deal of ball that had us on our heels. Penalties were also the order of the 1st half for the Barbs as the count reached 18 first half infringements! Still we were fortunate to keep the game close at 12-0 going in to the second half.

A very concise half time report was prepared by visiting development expert Martin Gallagher, which got the team re-focused on the job at hand. The penalty count, communication errors, and strategy were all discussed, and the lads all went out ready to win the 2nd half.

Within minutes, our first try was scored by Dave Miller ( 5th game in a row... ) but not converted. Then just minutes later, Paul Payne playing at his familiar #8 spot rumbled in for another try that was converted and saw us tie the game 12-12. After a great start to the 2nd half we were ready to keep rolling, but Markham fought back and mirrored their first half attack, keeping us on our heels again.

With only 12 minutes to go, and Markham now up by a score of 22-12, we had to get back to basics. A few minor adjustments suggested by Mr. Gallagher, allowed us to play hard nosed rugby right up the middle of the field. Picks and Drives were the formula that brought us into the Markham 22 on attack. A heads up quick tap penalty by Scrum Half Alf Scharlach saw some space out wide, and he was able to put winger Simon Hirtenstein over for try #3. Another un-converted try, but we were ready for more.

Now in the dying minutes of the game, more aggressive rucking kept us just outside Markham goal line. A combination of tight play and some nifty running by newcomer Simba seemed to spread the defense, and allow #8 Paul Payne to score his second of the day near the posts for the all important conversion ( all kicked by Stu Hulbert ) that would put us over by a score of 24-22! No question that the 2nd half penalty count of only 4 infringements helped keep the team on track!

Alas, the day was not over for the 2nd XV. The referee, who we may assume was in the sun a little too long, was going to report the score as 27-24 in favour of Markham, by mis-counting the number of tries they scored. Some polite insistence by Captain Nick Taylor, and Coach John Twomey helped the referee realize he was simply mistaken, and thus the score was official, 24-22 Barbs over Markham!

Congratulations go out to the entire squad who took what could have been a disastrous game, and by working as a team, and focusing on the basics, persevered, and pulled out their most deserved win of the season!

Aurora Barbarians Third Men’s Team (Marshall Division)
Aurora Barbs 31 - Markham 5
The Barbs Third team defeated Markham 3 by a score of 31 - 5 in a largely one-sided affair. Sorry, point-scorers not reported.