Aurora Barbarians vault from last place

August 27, 2014 · 0 Comments

By John Reich

If the Aurora Barbarians are relegated from Ontario’s Marshall Premiership at the end of the 2014 season, it won’t be due to intimidation.

The Aurora team defeated their York Region rivals and the reigning McCormick Cup champions Markham Irish for the second time this year – two of their only three wins in the current campaign. The game was held Saturday at Fletcher’s Fields in front of a large crowd that included a contingent of Barbarian Old Boys hoping for a victory in advance of their Hall of Fame celebration that evening.

The current team did not disappoint their alumna with a side that featured the return of three veteran players to bolster the lineup. The Barbarians came out storming and scored the first of their six trys just three minutes into the game with a nice scamper by winger Mike Neely converted by outhalf Bryn Davies.

The Barbs added a second try by full back Conner Chowen converted again by Davies before Markham got the board with a try of their own. The Barbs added a penalty goal to lead 17-7 but were cited after 25 minutes for repeatedly being offside and received a yellow card for their transgression and the penalty to make the score 17-10.

The teams traded trys before the half ended with Neely scoring his second for Aurora to make the score at the break 22-17.

The second half was evenly played for the first twenty minutes with neither team showing any momentum. The Barbarians were the first to score in the second half with a try by Davies but the Irish responded quickly with a try of their own and although they were able to score one additional major to win a valuable bonus point for four trys scored, the Barbarians added two more, one by scrum half Byron Boville and another by Neely to complete his hat trick. The Barbarians walked away with a 40 -29 win and five points added to their total in the standings.

The win advanced Aurora out of last place in the Premiership by two points over Waterloo County which suffered a loss in Brantford. It is likely the teams will battle each other to ward off relegation to the Ontario B Division right to the end of the season. Both clubs are in action again on September 6 with the Barbarians hosting league leading Balmy Beach at Fletchers Fields and Waterloo away to Stoney Creek.

In the second team match up the Barbarians’ development side had an easy time with a young Markham team closing out the score 40 – 12.