The Toronto Buccaneers took on the Aurora Barbs in their first ever playoff match last night and put on an impressive display to win against a bigger and well drilled side. A warm evening at Sunnybrook provided both teams with ideal conditions and with a good crowd in attendance the scene was set for some good rugby.

The Buccs started the match at a good pace and were soon camped in the Barbs half looking to score the first try of the match. The Barbs however were very well drilled in defense, knocking the Buccs back on a few occasions and also stealing some good turnover ball at the ruck with the Buccs forwards hitting a bit too high to achieve good ball for Maqadas at scrumhalf.

The Barbs then took possession of the ball for a good stint in the middle of the first half with their inside centre displaying some excellent running lines and strength in contact. The Buccs had to defend for a good ten minutes but the ferocious tackling of the backrow and inside backs prevented the Barbs scoring.

The last five minutes of the half saw the Barbs conceding a few penalties at ruck time which enabled the Buccs to make their way downfield and set up a good scoring opportunity. A well worked lineout move between Bobby and Victor took the Buccs to within five meters of the line and after a series of drives from Homayoun & Mumtaz, Victor was back on his feet to crash over the line and score the first try of the match.

Halftime 5-0 to the Buccs.

A few changes were made to the Buccs line up at halftime, again utilizing the strength in depth of the whole squad. The kickoff provided replacement No.8 Malik with the opportunity to make an impact and he didn’t disappoint, running the ball back through at least five defenders to get the Buccs firmly on the front foot. Some ferocious hits from flanker Josh, aided by some great counter rucking from the rest of the Buccs meant the bigger Barbs pack were now being knocked backwards in the contact area.

With the Barbs under a little pressure their flyhalf sent a few kicks deep into the Buccs half to relive pressure. One clearing kick found Faisal in open space and there was only going to be one result; beating the first man with ease Faisal then opened up to top speed and outstripped the Barbs covering defense to open the scoring in the second half for Buccs and keep up his impressive record of scoring in every match.

The Buccs now started to up the tempo and throw the ball wide on every occasion; another loose kick from the Barbs allowed Usman to put Sajad in space who showed good pace to score under the posts from his own half.

The Buccs forwards were now hitting rucks at speed and producing some fine ball for the backs to run with. After a series of drives near the Barbs line, scrumhalf Faaz capitalized on the good work by the forwards and helped himself to a fine individual try scoring just to the left of the posts. The next Buccs try was almost a carbon copy of the last, flyhalf Ahmad nipped over the line from close range after a serious of drives by the forwards to further extend the Buccs lead.

The last try of the match was fittingly scored by Captain Victor Cho who worked tirelessly throughout the match and led his team superbly. A ferocious hit from Josh and Izhan sent one of the Barbs forwards back about 10 meters, from the turnover ruck ball Victor crashed over the line to score his second try of the match.

Flyhalf Ahmad also kicked three conversions during the match to leave the final score 36-0 to the Buccs.

A big thank you goes out to the Aurora Barbs for travelling down to play the re-arranged game midweek and to all their supporters who came to watch. The Barbs inside centre stood out in the game and looks like he will make a fine player in the years to come.

Tries – Faisal, Sajad, Faaz, Ahmad, Victor (2)
Conversions – Ahmad (3)
Final score: Buccs 36, Aurora Barbs 0

Go Buccs!!!