Barbarians woes continue as they mark the passing of one of their own

September 10, 2014 · 0 Comments

By John Reich

The Aurora Barbarians Senior Men’s team managed a bonus point for four trys scored when they hosted league leading Balmy Beach at Fletcher’s Fields on Saturday, but it was otherwise another discouraging outing for last year’s McCormick Cup finalists as the club tries to avoid relegation to the B Division and settle their lineup for the playoffs in October.

The game opened on a very somber note with both teams acknowledging the passing of Graeme Loader, a Barbarian player killed in a bicycle-car accident on Labour Day Monday outside of Brandon, Manitoba while he was travelling from the west to the east coast on a fund-raising bike trip in support of the World Wildlife Federation.

But, the action of the game was continued in the true spirit of rugby with both sides playing heads-up football in memory of their colleague with hard running and big tackles.

The Beach club showed why they are leading the league this year, scoring two tries early and running out to a 12 -0 lead before ten minutes was done. The Barbarians capped of a good drive of their own at the fifteen-minute mark with second row Gian Montino picking a ball from the base of a ruck and scampering ten metres for a try that was converted by out half James Hulbert.

But the rest of the segment was all Beach as they used the wind effectively to pin the Barbs deep in their half and wait out the York Region side until it made a mistake. And the mistakes proved costly with the Beach scoring three more trys before the first session ended, going up
33-7 at the break.

With the wind behind them and a couple of player changes, the Aurora side played with more vigor in the second half with loose forward Jesse Hayman scoring a try early. The Beach countered immediately with a try of their own coming from the misplayed kickoff. But the Barbarians had the better of the play for the last twenty minutes with a try coming from Aaron Holt and although they allowed one more Beach try, the Barbarians scored again with Tom McLeod touching down on what proved to be the final play of the game. Nonetheless the Beach coasted in with a 45-22 victory.

Happy for the bonus marker, the Barbarians retained their slim one point lead over Waterloo County in the battle to avoid relegation, the County team securing a bonus point of their own in a loss to Stoney Creek. Waterloo and the Barbarians face each other in the season finale on September 20. However, Waterloo will play their game in hand over the Barbs versus the Crusaders in Waterloo next week while Aurora has the bye.

In the second team game, the Barbarians’ Development squad suffered a disappointing 49-7 loss to Balmy Beach, the one lone try coming from winger Brad Legere ,converted by Nick Daniels.