Game Report: October 21, 2006

These cup ties are the games that you wait all season to see - there is something unique about Cup play; the realization that there is no "next week" for one of the teams, coupled with the tradition of great semi-final and final games. Today's game was another classic in the rich history of the McCormick Cup and the predecessor, the Carling Cup. This was a game of momentum, of emotion and of amazing physical commitment by both teams.

Balmy Beach have made a tradition out of their cup exploits - as a club the Beach focus on October and the cup run, culminating in cup wins in 2004 and 2005. In the Marshall Division Aurora Barbarians had won the first game in July and played to an exciting 15 all tie in mid-September.   Today's game was the third Cup semi-final that the Barbs have played in the last three years, and clearly the team were determined to go to the final for the first time in 21 years.

Cup rugby is primarily about control and field position. Over the last three years Aurora Barbarians have been learning and gaining experience and confidence, a series of important lessons in how to win close and competitive games. Today's game showed that these lessons have resulted in a strong and dominant team that controlled the game for long periods of time. In addition, Aurora had an excellent defence, well organized and absolute in the tackle - on several occasions the Barbs chose to kick deep to drive the Beach back three into their own 10 meter and the aggressive follow-up tackling forced hurried clearing kicks or scrums in great attacking positions.

Aurora Barbs attacked from the opening kick-off and at three minutes into the game Ivan Barron went over for a well taken try off a pass from fly-half Dave Poettcker, who converted to open a 7 -0 lead. This early score gave the Barbs the confidence and the determination to build on this excellent start and overcome the inevitable early nerves. The Beach are a determined team and immediately drove back into the Barbs end - but the foundation of the outstanding defence were already in place as Aurora held the Beach out of the end zone on three separate occasions in the first 15 minutes. The Beach closed the score when Simon Rogers kicked three penalties to bring the Beach back to a two point lead, 9   - 7. Simon is probably one of the best kickers in Canadian rugby, (both from hand and place kicking) and on this afternoon he showed this talent to all. In large part, however, Dave Poettcker matched Simon's tactical kicking, driving Aurora down the field and into attacking position, and Dave kicked a penalty to bring the Barbs back into a one point lead, 10 - 9.

The key play in the first-half was Steve Shortly's try - Steve received the ball at the Beach 10 meter line and made a break and took off at top speed, with two Barbs players outside - Steve is solidly built, and difficult to tackle when he is going at speed, and his run of 40 meters to score an excellent try demonstrated his value as a hard running centre. Dave missed the conversion, but hit his second penalty and Aurora Barbs ended the half with a 18 - 9 lead, two tries, a conversion and two penalties to three penalties for the Beach - an outstanding first 40 minutes.

The second half was a typical cup tie, strong tackling by the backs and excellent forward play - both teams made solid gains, but Aurora out-half Dave Poettcker kicked for field position and kept the Beach in their end of the field for large periods of time. On one of the few Beach attacks, Aurora were penalized and Simon Rogers kicked his fourth penalty to bring Beach within six, 18 - 12 for the Barbs. Games at this level can turn on a single play and the Beach came close to regaining the lead   when the Beach forwards put on a tremendous drive which came to a premature stop on the Aurora 5 yard line, surprisingly the Beach chose to put the ball wide rather than turn it back to a trailer, the ball was fumbled and Aurora kicked down field to relieve the pressure- a bit of a let-off!!

The result of this close call was a wake-up for the Barbs who responded with a series of huge mid-field tackles that stopped the Beach backs when they appeared to be getting back into the game. Beach centre Haydn Gage made a couple of searching runs but the tackling of Ivan Barron and Steve Shortly shut down his threat. In the final 15 minutes the game was tight with both sets of forwards throwing everything into the loose play - the Beach using their experience in Cup rugby to drive down field and Aurora using amazing physical defence to keep the ball beyond the 22 and limit any potential Simon Rogers penalty attempts. With four minutes to go substitute prop Sonny Pirrotta took a pass and moved the ball to Steve Shortly who passed to Ivan Barron who went 20 meters for his second try of the game - Dave P was unable to add the conversion but the score of 23 - 12 proved to be the final result, an outstanding win for the Barbs.

The Beach must be congratulated on a fine display of competitive cup rugby - they play an uncompromising style, physical and tough, but on this day they were not able to dominate the Aurora pack or break through the unbelievable defence - Coaches Drew MacPherson and Bart Hennessey must be congratulated on the game preparation and excellent organization of the defensive alignment. This must be seen as an outstanding   team performance, at the end of the game all of the Aurora team shared in the collective joy of winning this cup semi-final. It is inappropriate to single out individuals in a team victory with many excellent contributions - in the view of your correspondent this was the best performance by an Aurora Barbarian team in the last four years, and sets up the prospect of an exciting McCormick Cup Final next Saturday against the Irish Canadian RC who defeated Oakville Crusaders R.F.C.13 - 10 - game on next Saturday in what promises to be another exciting cup final, the first for the Barbarians in 21 years.