Game Report: June 16, 2007

Senior Men's First Team
Week 4 – Aurora Barbarians RFC 35 - Toronto Nomads RFC 12

The game report for the week reads “much improved play by the Aurora Barbarians first team” and a three victory day over visiting Toronto Nomads RFC. Although this correspondent is not able to report on the full slate of club games, future reports will show all of the game scores:

1st - Aurora Barbarians RFC 35 Toronto Nomads RFC 12

2nd - Aurora Barbarians RFC 33 Toronto Nomads RFC 17

3rd - Aurora Barbarians RFC 38 Toronto Nomads RFC 12

Aurora Barbarians RFC outscored the second year Marshall Nomads 106 points to 41 for three hard earned wins, and the Barbs first team remains unbeaten and in first place in the Marshall Division 1. The 2nds and 3rds are both in second place in their respective Divisions with a 3 and 1 record – a great first month in the 2007 Marshall for the club.

This could be the end of this week’s game report, but this might disappoint the more avid readers of this column who need their weekly fix of bumbling clichés so we should try to fill this void.

Last Saturday’s opponents, the Toronto Nomads RFC are a fabled “founder” club in the ORU. The Nomads have re-built their club playing side after a difficult first year when they returned to the Marshall for the 2006 season. The Nomads are usually associated with tough, uncompromising rugby played in the true spirit of the Marshall Division. This correspondent has been around rugby long enough to see the difference between tough play and the display of cynical professional fouls and incessant chatter to influence the referee’s decisions will do little to build the Nomads reputation – and herein lies the tragedy. Make no mistake this can and will be a good Nomads team with several talented players and the potential to play attractive and expansive ruby.

And so to the game, a 1:30 kick-off in hot and humid weather to accommodate the Xtreme game. This was a good and much improved Aurora Barbarians performance, 5 tries from the backs, all converted by Dave Ashwood, who had an excellent afternoon in his return to Marshall rugby after a two year recovery from injury. The forwards played well, featuring excellent strength and control under difficult conditions.

The reunited Ashwood brothers, (Rob at #9 and Dave at #10) had a dominant day, Dave scoring a late try in addition to five for five in the conversion department and Rob showing his best form of the 2007 season with an excellent and reliable service and his all round field direction and control. The second feature of the day was the debut for four new starting players, Greg Tuffman at hooker, Gian Montino at tighthead and Jesse Hayman at wing forward, all looking very comfortable and making the most of their promotions, as well as centre Bryn Keys who had a memorable game. Bryn is a Canada U-21 player playing his first rugby in four months after shoulder surgery and is joining the club for the summer.

The first 15 minutes of the game were a little tentative and un-memorable. Perhaps understandably, Dave Ashwood was adjusting to the pace of the game, but as the game progressed he settled down and showed class and maturity at #10. At 15 minutes the Barbs scored an excellent and clinical try; line-out, possession won with a good jump by the re-energised Simon McEacheran, from Rob to Dave, missed pass to outside centre Bryn and over for a most elegant try under the posts, converted by Dave – Aurora Barbs 7 Nomads 0.

The Nomads made progress through a series of good back line moves by their excellent centre pairing, Nomads #12 and #13 impressed on this day, although their true potential was underutilised. After a water break at 20 minutes, Aurora’s Ivan Barron seized on a Nomads mistake to score his first try of the day – pure opportunism; conversion by Dave Ashwood, Barbs up 14 – 0.

The feature of the next 20 minutes was the play of the Aurora back row, with Dave Nielsen having an outstanding game. The pressure on the Nomads halves resulted in their out-half going back to his forwards for the majority of play, a huge waste of the talent in the Nomad centres. On the half hour Ivan scored his second opportunist try when he grabbed a dropped ball from Nomads and went over, again converted by Dave Ashwood, Barbs 21 Nomads 0.

As one would expect from a well coached team, the Nomads responded with a good period of play, at 37 minutes resulting in a well executed try from a rolling maul. The conversion was missed, and the whistle blew shortly after for a half-time score, Aurora Barbs 21 Nomads 5.

The Nomads opened the second half with their best play of the game, driving over for a converted try at 4 minutes, Barbs 21 Nomads 12. Unfortunately the Nomads became very one dimensional and the Aurora Barbs forwards were able to anticipate and adjust to the rolling maul, a tactic that dominated Nomads play for the next 20 minutes. The Nomads missed a kickable penalty at a key time in the game as play degenerated primarily from the oppressive and stamina sapping heat – rookie Matt Chown took a Yellow and the much admired Alexander “Simba” Sithole came on to play Flanker and lend his light weight to the Aurora shove!! Such is this player’s footballing talent that he fit in well in his new position! Aurora’s frustration began to mount as the penalty count went up and frankly the Barbs let the Nomads back into the game at a time when they could and should have taken the game away.

At 65 minutes Aurora flanker Dave Nielsen made an excellent break, and linked to Marco Di Girolamo who made good space to engineer an overlap – Deej moved the ball to Bryn Keys who scored his second try of the day, conversion by Dave Ashwood. The fourth try of the day for the bonus point, and Aurora Barbs team were playing their usual expansive game confidently and well.

In the final 10 minutes Aurora put together a series of good moves and at 35 minutes Dave Ashwood scored a good opportunist try, which he converted for a final score Aurora Barbarians 35 Toronto Nomads 12.

Scoring Summary: Ivan Barron 2 tries, Bryn Keys two tries, Dave Ashwood 1 try and 5 conversions for a personal total of 15 points.

So, what to take away from this game? First off, this was a much improved Aurora performance from last week’s disappointing game against Brampton. The positional changes in the backs worked well with an outstanding debut from Keys and good games from Jeremy Campbell and Damon McLachlan as they swapped positions for experience. The pack played well in a good test against a bruising and promising Nomads forward pack. A number of players had good games with Dave Nielsen and the rest of the back row having a great afternoon. The tight five got through a lot of tough work, and played well setting up a good platform. The conditions were demanding on both packs and Aurora forwards played with a lot of heart and determination. Dave and Rob Ashwood had good games, controlling the game with mature and experienced heads.

This game sets up an interesting fixture in week 5 when all of the Marshall games will be held at Fletcher Fields. After week 4 the Aurora Barbs are unbeaten and in first place with 19 points, the Cru are 3 & 1 with five bonus points and are only two points out of first place. This should be an excellent game, one to look forward to.