Game Report: June 17, 2006

Men's Third Team
Aurora's Third Team lost a close game to Brampton 3 by a score of 20 - 12 . Despite playing under the noontime sun, the thirds played an aggressive game against a larger Brampton side. The score was knotted at 12-all with 15 minutes to go. Brampton scored a late try and then a cheeky drop-goal at full-time. Aurora's point-scorers were: Graham Brown and Alf Scharlach. Peter Keir kicked one convert.

Men's Second Team
The Barbs' Second Team played a dominant game defeating Brampton 41 - 0 . The second team moved the ball with confidence on attack and rarely let Brampton even have a sniff at their try line. The nicest try came early in the first half when Aurora moved the ball through 3 rucks on the left side of the field and then wide through 6 pairs of hands to score in the right hand corner. The Barbs' try-scorers were: Bryn Davies, Jacob Young, Will Sorensen, Zach Pancer and two by Kai Sorensen. Bryn Davies also kicked a penalty and 4 converts.

Men's First Team
Aurora Barbarians RFC (ABRFC) 39 - Brampton Beavers RFC 10
Aurora Barbarians continued their winning streak to record the fourth win in four starts and collect their fourth bonus point - certainly the level of play in this game was an improvement over their previous victories over Brantford Harlequins RFC and Nomads RFC.

At this stage in the season, Coach Drew Macpherson will have been pleased with the overall play of the team, and the opportunity to introduce a number of substitutes into the game to give several new players a taste of first team rugby. The Marshall League is a long season, 10 more games in the schedule until the end of September, and it is essential to have effective depth to cover for the inevitable injuries and absences that occur in league play - increasingly the Marshall clubs are faced with the demands of representative play, and the opportunity to test players in first team situation is critical for long term success.

The 100% record for the first team is the best start that the Barbarians have made in their three years in the Marshall division, and the progress of the team is great to see. The club is, as a whole, improving and learning how to win games, experience that will be useful over the balance of the first round of the season, (with Saracens RFC, Crusaders RFC and Balmy Beach RFC to come by end of July), and into the second round of games in August and September.

On the hottest day of this summer, (with the prospect of record hot weather to come), the Barbs played relentlessly against a game but at times careless Brampton Beavers team. The win should not detract from the excellent effort from the Beavers - they never gave up and attempted to match the adventurous and expansive style of Aurora. Again Aurora Barbs played an exciting and expansive style, combining hard driving forward play with speedy and exciting back-play. The challenge over the next few weeks will be to up the rate of ball retention and to play consistently for the full 80 minutes. The only criticism on this day is that Aurora still play in "fits and starts" - for 15 minutes the team play beautiful flowing rugby and then go into a shell for 5 - 10 minutes.

But this lack of continuity was perhaps inevitable on a day when the field temperature was in the mid 30's - fortunately frequent water breaks helped some, but these condition are wearing on the hard working Aurora forwards, who won consistent "good ball" all day long against a heavy Brampton pack. Although it is somewhat inappropriate to single out a single forward, #8 Nolan Ott had an outstanding game in the loose and must have covered every inch of the field. Flanker Mark Franklin continues to impress in his return after a season away from the game with his Achilles injury; on this day his work rate was impressive in the heat. But the reality is that, under these energy zapping conditions, the entire pack out played their opponents from Brampton and ensured the quality of possession that fed the backs with good ball.

Fly-half Dave Poettcker opened the scoring at 1 minute 30 seconds with well struck penalty - the field position had been set-up by an impressive break by Nolan Ott and a Brampton player going off-side at the ensuing ruck. Brampton countered with their own penalty at three minutes in their first vsit to the Aurora Barbs 22 meter line. At 13 minutes centre Steve Shortly made an excellent break and powerful run to score the first try, converted by Potteker; Aurora Barbs 13 Brampton Beavers 3.

The score moved quickly as Marco "Deej" Di Girolamo made a brilliant 50 meter break and scored under the posts, yet again showing the strength and speed that is such a key dimension of his skills - he entered the backs on a perfect angle from his wing and cut decisively through the Brampton backs - beautiful flowing rugby. Deej's try was converted by Dave P. to extend the score to 20 - 3 after 16 minutes.

This is where Brampton played some of their best rugby, winning their fair share of ball - but a combination of excellent mid-field defence and unfortunate errors in the Beavers backs meant that the Beavers prevented the home team from closing the gap. Scrum-half Rob Ashwood put up a outstanding box-kick and the Brampton full-back and centre collided with frightening impact, while winger "Simba" Sithole followed up, hacked the ball on and gathered the bounce to score a 30 meter try under the posts, converted by Dave P. Fortunately after a brief delay both Brampton players recovered and were able to continue, but this showed the need for the oncoming player to shout for the ball.

The half ended and a welcome break for water with Aurora Barbs leading 27 - 3. Both coaches started to make substitutions from the half on, including first team alternates Paddy Gourlay, Ryan Stickle and Paul Greenaway and debutant Andrew Ziricino, (McKenzie H.S., Aurora Barbs Under 18 and Windsor University) - within minutes of entering the game Andrew scored a well taken try and showed further proof of the value of the Junior Program in producing outstanding players for the club. Not surprisingly the overall level of play fell off in the second half as the heat took its toll on the players and play stagnated into a series of scrums and line-outs. Brampton were rewarded for an afternoon of excellent effort by scoring a late try and Aurora 38 Nolan Ott scored the final try, shortly before the referee blew for final time - the final score was Aurora Barbarians 39 Brampton Beavers 10.

This was a good win with a lot of hard and uncompromising work from the Aurora Barbarians. On a hot day it is essential that the forwards see the backs making good use of the hard won ball - of the five tries scored, four were scored by the backs and Nolan Ott chipped in for the forwards. Dave Poettcker converted four and added two penalties for 14 points on the day.   A great improvement setting the team up nicely for our next few weeks, with the prospect of good practice time and some rest before playing the Cru and Beach - our next game is on June 24 at Fletchers against Toronto Saracens RFC.

Our opponents stuck at the unenviable job of playing in the heat and seeing a reasonable amount of good ball dropped by their backs - but I was left with the feeling that the Beavers will improve and develop the ability to capitalise on their possession - they are a tough bunch with a number of promising young players.