Game Report: August 15, 2007

Senior Men's First Team
Week 5: Aurora Barbarians RFC (ABRFC) 24 - Crusaders R.C. 14

This was the make-up week 5 home game, re-scheduled from June 23 and relocated to the Crusaders field. This was the eighth Barbs win to maintain the 2007 unbeaten record, and the first ever win by the Aurora Barbarians over the Crusaders R.C. Having watched the Crusaders for many years, this was another tough performance by the club, whose player base for this game was diminished by the player call-ups from the Niagara Thunder, (who leave tomorrow for the RCSL final) – best wishes to the Cru players and to the Thunder for this final on Saturday.

The overlapping schedule of the RCSL during the Ontario season presents major problems for the Marshall clubs and sooner or later the Ontario Rugby Union and RugbyCanada will have to decide on the priority of club games in the Marshall Division over a tournament that has failed to establish its importance in all regions of the country. The fact remains that the Marshall Division is the #1 priority for clubs and players in Ontario, and the current structure and schedule for the RCSL is a major disruption – let’s hope that this issue is addressed during the winter, in preparation for the 2008 season.

The problems associated with scheduling the Marshall meant that this was the first game for the Aurora team since the high scoring game against the Saracens on July 21, and it was the kind of hard, tough physical game that the Barbs needed to help prepare for the up-coming schedule in the second half of the Marshall season.

This break has given players a welcome break for ”re-habbing” nagging injuries from the first half of the Marshall season and from the heavy player commitment and workload for the Toronto Xtreme in the RCSL. However, the Barbs appeared to be “rusty” during the opening 20 minutes. In fairness, the veteran players who started for the Crusaders team opened the game with a tremendous display of aggressive forward play, and at six minutes Andrew Buxton-Foreman kicked the first of his three penalties to open up a 3-0 lead. He followed up 2 minutes later with his second penalty, Cru 6 – Barbs 0.

At 12 minutes the Barbs first attack resulted in a line-out at the Cru 10 meter line and prop Dan Resnik drove over from the ensuing ruck for the opening Barbs score; a well taken try, with Dave Poettcker kicking the conversion, Barbs 7 – Cru 6.

At 22 minutes the Cru scored a beautiful try with the ball going through eight pairs of hands before their excellent winger Stefan Rinas went over in the corner for an unconverted try, Cru 11 - Barbs 7. Rinas impressed all day with his textbook tackling, an exciting young player, worth watching for his great defensive work and effort.

At 32 minutes Buxton- Forman hit a huge kick 60 meters down field, but straight into the arms of Bryn Keys, who ran the ball 50 meters straight back at the Cru and beat the defence to make a scoring pass to Robbie Carter who went over for a try under the posts, converted by Dave P. - Barbs 14 Cru 11. This was a wonderful piece of football by Bryn-he accelerated and cut straight through the entire Crusaders team, with the exception of the Fullback and his pass to Carter was timed to perfection; it was also a turning point in the game as finally Aurora Barbs started settle down and play better rugby. There was no further scoring before half-time, Barbs 14 - Cru 11.

Coach Drew MacPherson made a number of planned rotational changes at the half, with Simon McEachern, (who had an outstanding 40 minutes) and Dave Poettcker resting and Dave Bowie and Dave Ashwood entering the game. At 45 minutes Steve Bowie immediately stamped his physical presence on the game, diving on a loose ball and setting up a ruck that the Barbs won, and the ball moved down the backs to Marco Di Girolamo who put a beautiful kick down to the Cru 5 meter line and flanker Dave Nielsen touched down for an excellent try, a try that covered 50 meters from Bowie’s initial steal of the ball - an excellent effort. The conversion was unsuccessful, Barbs 19 – Cru 11.

At 50 minutes Buxton-Forman hit his third successful penalty when Dave Nielsen took a yellow card, Barbs 19 – Cru 14. Two minutes later Dave Ashwood took a second yellow and the Barbs played for eight minutes with a two man disadvantage, and kept the Cru from scoring, an outstanding effort by the forwards, tough tackling and hard work, with Steve Bowie leading and having an outstanding second half. This 8 minute period was the final clincher in this game with the complete domination by the Aurora forwards and the inability of the Cru to capitalise on their manpower advantage. After what seemed like an eternity, (12 minutes for the first 10 minute sin-bin) Nielsen returned and eventually, with Dave Ashwood’s return, the Barbs got back to full strength. A great effort!!

The game got “chippy”, but Aurora Barbarians were not intimidated and continued to play expansive rugby. At 65 minutes, an intended grubber kick down touch line was initially blocked and then corralled by Nolan Ott setting up a ruck that was spun off several hands and finally to Simba Sithole popping up on his opposite wing to run 20 meters and score an excellent try in the corner, a beautiful piece of attacking rugby- the conversion was unsuccessful and this completed the scoring Aurora Barbarians 24 – Crusaders 14. In the final 10 minutes Drew introduced more subs with Gian Montino, Andrew Ziricino, Kai Sorensen and Neil McDougall coming on to close out the game.

So what do we make of this game? An important win, nice to win our first game against the Crusaders R.C. in our fourth season in the Marshall, hopefully the first of many to come!!

This was a tough game, and a good, hard earned win. It was the kind of game that the team needed to win to consolidate the lead in the Marshall and to get back on track after the break, and to get ready for the tough games against the Toronto Nomads this Saturday, and against the Brampton Beavers R.F.C. and the Toronto Saracens R.F.C. over the next ten days – not an easy schedule. On this day, the Crusaders veterans played a tough, physical game and limited the amount of good ball that the Barbs could exploit, an exercise in keeping the score down. The Aurora Barbarians scored four tries and earned their seventh bonus point out of eight games and kept the Cru from earning their bonus, a good effort. There is work to do, but all in all, a satisfactory result, but be assured; the Crusaders will be motivated for the return game in September.