Game Report: September 22, 2007

The Marshall Premier Division Trophy returns to Aurora for the second consecutive season as the Aurora Barbarians RFC completed the double over Crusaders RC this afternoon. This was a convincing win for the Barbs over a much changed Crusaders, a team that has had a tough second half to the league in 2007.

As many of you already know, the Barbs had clinched the league championships last Saturday, with their 53 - 20 win over Stoney Creek RFC. This afternoon, after the completion of the game, ORU Board Member and Director of Game, Colin Baker, (a long time Barbarian player and club member), presented the trophy to Club Men's Captain Robbie Carter. This was a return to tradition when the League Trophy is presented to the winning team on the last Saturday of the League season, irrespective of game location.

In many ways today's game was one of those fixtures that both teams played for pride to complete their league commitments, although the game had added importance for the Crusaders as they attempted to get maximum points and move up the league table to finish in the top four for 2007. It should be remembered that the Crusaders had finished as runner-up to the Aurora Barbs in the 2006 ORU Marshall Premier Division and were Champions in 2005, (when Barbs finished in 4th place).

This was a very good result for Aurora Barbs - given the fact that the Barbs chose to rest three perennial starters, (Rob Ashwood, Ivan Barron and Marco Di Girolamo), to allow recovery and rehab from season injuries before the start of the McCormick Cup, and selected a number of players in new positions, the result speaks well for the next six weeks in the Cup. The prospect was for a blisteringly fast game as the Cru field showed the results of an extremely dry summer, dust like conditions with many similarities to the Veldt in Simba's beloved South Africa - no wonder Simba had such an outstanding game!!

In fact, this was an almost a perfect day for open rugby, and the Aurora Barbarians put on an exciting display of fast, expansive rugby - at times it was almost like sevens rugby, lots of ball movement, good backing-up and well won ball in the loose. The Crusaders competed well, but it was clear that the speed of the Aurora backs was going to cause problems for the Cru all day long.

The Cru had an experienced pack and they played hard, tough rugby, without ever establishing dominance. The Barbs pack played a great game, and on a number of occasions stopped the Cru rolling maul and repeated attempts to drive the ball over from the Barbs five meter line - in one instance mid-way through the second half, the Cru forwards made six consecutive attempts to drive over the line, and on each drive the Barbs line held tight - this was the kind of tough rugby that the Barbs will face over the next six weeks in the McCormick Cup. The Barbs back row had another great outing, with Dave Nielsen scoring two excellent tries and Nolan Ott covering acres of space and setting-up numerous scoring opportunities. Inserted into the back row at number 7 was first team debutant Josh Marion who enjoyed an excellent game at the higher level. The tight five got through an incredible amount of tough play in the loose and dominated the Cru in the set pieces, and the line-outs were perfect with Brock Miller and Simon McEachern winning all of their ball, and having an excellent afternoon in the loose. The front row of Dan Resnik, Rob Caretr and Leighton Chong had another great afternoon and showed why they are the iron men of the ORU Marshall - they grind out tough front row play week in and week out, and appear to relish the "dark arts" of the front three!!

The backs had an outstanding game and seemed to be able to make breaks almost at will - the Barbs simply had too much speed for the Cru backs and used this to great advantage all afternoon. Simba must have imagined that he was back in the perfect rugby conditions of his high school, club and University fields in South Africa, on this afternoon he was frightening in his ability to beat the Crusaders by a combination of sheer speed and classic running lines - in addition to his try he made three beautiful breaks and set-up tries from each of these. The surprise of the afternoon was the debut of Shaun Allen at #9, (in an interesting battle of #9's against his long time ORU and McMaster University team mate, Spencer Fullerton). While it is unlikely that the regular #9's, (Rob Ashwood and Kai Sorensen), will be too worried about their places, Shaun had a good game, although at times he played a classic combination of flanker and #9, disappearing from sight, only to re-emerge on the bottom of a ruck!! His service to Dave Ashwood at #10 was consistent and fast and his defence around the base of the scrum was outstanding.

Dave Ashwood had another great game at #10, and his place kicking was excellent, going 5 for 7 for the day. He has a mature rugby head, and when required kicked for position well. But it was his ability to get the backs moving that made this display. This was a perfect day for Dave to exploit the speed in the backs with Matt Prevoe and Jeremy Campbell playing excellent rugby in the centres. This was Matt Prevoe's best game for the 1st team and he showed what an exciting prospect this graduate of the junior program is. Jeremy Campbell was outstanding, scoring three exciting tries in the second half and making classic breaks almost at will - Jeremy has improved throughout the season.

In the back 3, Simba's huge contribution has already been mentioned and winger Anton Alekseyenko and full back Damon McLachlin caused havoc every time they received the ball - the Aurora Barbs have the best set of backs in the Marshall Division. Today was a veritable feast of fast, open running with Damon using his electrifying side step and swerve to open up acres of space - at 26, Damon is an established Aurora Barbs "star" with many years of excellent rugby ahead. And remember that Ivan Barron continues to rehab and Marco Di Girolamo is recovering from minor injuries - both useful additions for the Cup rounds!!

Another great Marshall Premier league season has concluded.

Your Aurora Barbarians are repeat champions, winning the league by seven points over the Balmy Beach. Based on recent history this is a large margin, and it speaks to the attacking flair of this team. Some simple statistics to illustrate the overall dominance of the 2007 Barbs:

• The Barbs won 13 out of 14 Marshall Premier Division Games in 2007
• The Barbs recorded 13 bonus points in 14 games, and scored four or more tries in 12 games
• The Barbs scored 524 points or an average of 37.4 points per game - the next highest scoring club was Balmy Beach, with 438 points or an average of 31.3 points
• The Barbs gave up only 163 points all season, or an average of only 11.6 points per game, again the Beach were next "tightest defence" with a total of 215 points giving up or an average of 15.4 points per game
• The Barbs scored 80 tries in 14 games or an average of 5.7 tries a game, and converted 49, for a 61.25% conversion success rate.
• In addition, the Barbs kicked two drop goals and only kicked 6 penalties out of 11 attempts in 14 games for a success conversion rate of 54.5%, proof of their untamed desire to run the ball and attack at every opportunity!!!
• The Barbs therefore outscored their opposition over the entire season by an average of 25.8 points per game! A truly remarkable number in the premier Division, proving their season long dominance in 2007
• The Barbs have received six Yellow cards for an average of 0.48 Yellows per game and no red card!! But we gave up a lot of penalties for sheer youthful exuberance and at times lack of discipline!! The team were penalized 122 times for an average of 8.71 penalties per game, or 1 penalty every 9 minutes. This high rate of penalties must be corrected for the McCormick Cup, where penalties can kill you!
• 41 different players represented the Aurora Barbarians RFC with distinction over the season, another remarkable statistic, showing the depth of the club and the excellence of the Junior Program to produce an almost continual stream of talent.

This data represents a truly remarkable season in every dimension of this great game and worthy two time League Champions.

It has been a unique honour to record this team's exploits on the field in 2007. Apparently some members of the club actually look forward to their weekly dose of cliché be sodden melodrama!! In all I have attempted to give honest and sincere commentary, recognizing that for so many this game is a hobby, a wonderful way to spend the Ontario summer!!

And finally, some huge thanks. In no particular order:

• to the loyal fans who come to support the team, week in and week out
• to Laura for her amazing work over the last seven seasons patching up the walking wounded and preventing total physical decay among the players
• to Kerry and Jack, who follow the team from near and far and provide sound comments based on years of following and playing this great game
• to Drew and Bart for their care and attention in preparing the team and for developing the skills and fitness required to win this season long Marathon
• to Pete, as Director of Men's Rugby over the last two years for batting 100%
• to the players, all 41 who have trained and played in un-equalled heat and humidity, who have represented the Club with honour and with distinction over the last 5 months, a true marathon of effort, consistency and intensity
• to Rob Carter for his excellence in Captaincy and his outstanding example
• And finally to JR, quite simply for being JR, understated and humble and amazing in his dedication and now leading another generation of Reichs into the game.

And so, on to the second season, the McCormick Cup - we await the final draw with interest, united in the realisation that there is unfinished business over the next six weeks.