Game Report: July 7, 2007

Senior Men's First Team
Week 6 - Aurora Barbarians RFC (ABRFC) 24 - Stoney Creek RFC 8

ABRFC visit to Stoney Creek RFC

Last Saturday’s visit to Stoney Creek RFC was an interesting check point on the progress for the Aurora Barbs this season. For Creek, this was the most important game of their season to date, an opportunity to test their club against the defending Marshall Division champions. More importantly, it was a chance to put a marker down for the balance of the 2007 season and for the longer term growth of their club.

The first team result for Aurora Barbs will go into the record books as a “bonus point win” and maintains the team’s unbeaten record at 5 – 0 for the 2007 season. The Marshall Division is nearing the season mid-point, with the re-scheduled game against Crusaders RFC and this Thursday’s game against rivals Irish Canadian RC still to come before we hit the half-way point. And so at one level the result was positive, but it was, at best, an acceptable performance – a comfortable win with plenty of room for improvement!

The major responsibility of a game reporter is to record impressions of the game and put these into the broader context of the season. Road games are always a challenge – because of the structure of the league with the majority of games played at Fletcher’s Fields, road games take the teams out of their normal game dynamics. In fact, Stoney Creek has become our longest away journey in the League, and a different set of dynamics enter into game preparation.

Our opponents, the Stoney Creek 1st team, are well coached and they do the basics of rugby well – they defend strongly and their forwards are strong and “ruck” well. They have arrived in the Marshall with a good pedigree, undefeated in the 2006 Keenan and their results in the first five weeks of the 2007 Marshall season have been impressive, 4 wins and their only loss in a home game against the Balmy Beach RFC. It was clear that this game was not going to be a walk in the park for the Barbs as the Creek have already established themselves as a solid team capable of pulling off a series of good wins. Game time conditions were typical for July in Ontario, hot, humid and windy, a challenge for both teams.

Aurora Barbarians played well in patches of the game, and there were some good individual performances, but based on last Saturday’s performance there is room for considerable improvement in overall team performance. The first 15 minutes were scrappy, with Stoney Creek making their usual starting charge – they have established a reputation for flying out of the gate. Gradually, however, the Barbs settled down and scored their opening try at 20 minutes through Captain Robbie Carter, (back after recovering from injury in week 3) – this was a well taken try and set the pattern for the next 15 minutes. The conversion attempt was wide – Aurora Barbs 5 Stoney Creek 0.

Aurora Barbs played some attractive rugby with the back row of #8 Nolan Ott, and flankers Dave Neilsen and Shaun Allen doing great work in the open. At 20 minutes, Dave made a break in mid-field and took the ball into the Creek 22 and Nolan Ott was on hand to take the ball in for the second try, with an unsuccessful conversion attempt from a difficult angle, Barbs 10 Creek 0. Almost immediately, Creek got on the board with a penalty, and the half time score was Aurora Barbs RFC 10 Stoney Creek RFC 3.

The second half was an improved performance from Aurora and the stubborn Creek refusing to be “put away”; they are a tough and competitive bunch!! The Aurora back row continued to dominate with Dave Neilsen having a great game. In the space of 15 minutes he made four breaks of 20 plus meters and linked with Nolan Ott to put him in the a second try of the game, a well taken opportunity for Nolan, showing good form after his return from injury in week 2 - Dave Poettcker was successful on the conversion and took the score to 17 – 3.

Although Aurora played some expansive and exciting rugby, small errors cropped up and a series of penalties against the Barbs took some of their momentum away. Shaun Allen took the ball at pace and had a clear run for the line, but was judged to have received a marginal forward pass, and moments later Dave Neilsen made a nice break and linked to Shaun who was forced into touch at the one meter line by the Creek cover defence. The Aurora backs enjoyed a good game showing speed and penetration – the Creek rugby supporters were impressed by the overall speed of execution and the vision of attack by the Barbs backs and the final and fourth try of the afternoon was scored by the excellent veteran Ivan Barron on a ten meter run under the posts, conversion by Dave P. and bonus point secured, Aurora Barbs 24 Stoney Creek 3.

The final score was a try by the hard working Creek, just reward for their effort on this hot and humid afternoon, and in the closing minutes the Creek appeared to want more points, a good sign for Coach Gary Whitley – but the well organised Aurora defence has proven to be one of the strong points in the first half of the season and held out for a final score of Aurora Barbarians RFC 24 Stoney Creek Camels RFC 8.

A few brief comments on the Creek – they are a welcome addition to the Marshall. They play solid rugby, they have a number of talented young players, and they are well organised and coached - they play a hard and clean game and with greater experience and maturity this club will emerge as a strong presence in the Marshall Division – in the space of 12 months they have built depth and commitment, with two wins out of three against Aurora. But there is more than on-field performance to good club rugby, they are also excellent hosts and have a long tradition and rivalry with the Barbs in the Keenan – there is respect and recognition for the history between the two clubs – all in all a most enjoyable road trip and the prospect for a good return game.

So back to the question of this report - where do the Barbs 1st team stand after week 6?

The record speaks for itself, 5 and 0 and top position in the Marshall and a measure of stability in the selection of players with minimal changes dictated by injury and player availability.

The team continue to play exciting and expansive rugby with the backs showing speed and creativity. Andrew Zircino started in the centre against the Creek and shows that he is fulfilling all of the potential from his Junior days, and rookie Jeremay Campbell has made a number of good starts. ORU 2006 Rookie of the Year, Simba Sithole has continued to impress with his speed and scoring ability and his all round rugby skills. The veterans of the backs Damon McLachlin, Ivan Barron and Marco “Deej” Di Girolamo have been on great form and provide both the experience and creativity to anchor these exciting backs.

At half-back the Barbs have depth and experience at #9 and #10. Kai Sorensen and Dave Poettcker impress and the Ashwood brothers (Rob at #9 and Dave at #10) have continued to show skill and strength and had an impressive game in their only start together. Rob Ashwood shows great maturity and control at key phases in the game and toughness at #9 that provides an additional dimension for the team.

This is an interesting “transition” season in the forwards – they have worked hard and a number of players have impressed. Dan Resnick, Leighton Chong and Steve Bowie put in huge effort week in and week out and Captain Robbie Carter continues to inspire by his overall work rate and leadership. Simon McEachren is playing with renewed energy and rookie Will Sorensen has impressed, and Brock Miller in his rare spring appearance was awesome and will, hopefully, return in full in the fall. The team have been strengthened by the return of Matt Chown, who made his first start of the season against Stoney Creek – Matt has huge potential for the future as he learns more about the dark arts of the front row, and with mentors like Drew and Leighton and his own quick learning curve, Matt will quickly develop into an outstanding forward.

The back row of Dave Neilsen, Shaun Allen and Nolan Ott, (all 23 or younger!), grow weekly as they learn to play together. So far this season they have been outstanding and combine the high work rate and tough tackling of great back rows with enormous attacking potential. Over the balance of the 2007 season and for the longer term future, this combination will develop into one of the great back rows in the Marshall Division.

Coach Drew MacPherson and his able Assistant Bart Hennessey can be pleased with progress to date, but there are some areas that require improvement. The challenge for defending League Champions is to maintain the level of intensity and dedication required for continued success. This includes full commitment at training and individual work on strength and fitness and tough, uncompromising game presence. This is a long season with the additional pressure of the National Invitational Club Championships at Fletcher’s Fields over Labour Day and un-finished business in the McCormick Cup!! And, as defending champions, there is the added pressure of every team looking to beat the Barbs! This week in week out pressure means that all players have to commit to 100% effort and a toughness that comes from pride and passion for the CLUB, (note the capitals!!). The balance of this season is about maximum commitment and dedication to the Club and to club colleagues.

There are three features that are areas for concern in the second half of the season – on-field discipline and decision making, head-on tackling and patience to build up effective attacking positions. In recent weeks Aurora have been giving up too many penalties and still need to learn how to play to the referees needs – the team must commit to reduce the penalty rate through more discipline at the point of breakdown. In general, the decision making has improved, but the decisions for “taking the points on offer” will become more important as the competitive pressure increases. The tackling has been “mixed” results. The tackling by the backs has been outstanding and the reputation for the Barbs well organised defence has been well earned. To date in 5 games the 1st team has given up only 49 points, or an average of 9.6 points per game. The back-row has put in a huge amount of work and generally the defence in “one-on-one” situations has been good. But…the game against Stoney Creek showed some weakness in tackling, an area that Drew and Bart will want to address in the coming weeks.

The final comments address the need to build greater patience and build-up for attacking – Aurora Barbs continue to play expansive and exciting rugby, and we are unquestionably one of the fastest teams in the Marshall. There is a tendency to attack from any and all situations and we would benefit from more frequent second and third phase ball to “suck” our opponents in, and provide more open field space for attack.

These comments cannot, however, detract from an excellent first part of the season – in preparing for the season it is useful to divide the six months into blocks of time and the first half, (games 1 – 7) of the Marshall League have been exciting and successful. From all of the many fans and supporters of the beloved Barbs, many thanks to the players and coaches and JR for the excellent start to the season – quote Bachman Turner, "you ain’t seen nothing yet"!!

Next game: Thursday 12 July at Fletcher’s Field KO at 7:00 p.m. against the Irish Canadian RC.