Barker v Waverley
by “rod skellet”
Perfect playing conditions presented for both team at Hornsby with a vocal crowd of Barker students in the stands hoping that the inept game of the lads in RED against Aloys, was a one-off.
The run-on lineup was ominous. To a man the Waverley front row had 10kg on his all-Year-11 Barker front row. But this writer has learned to appreciate the fight in the Barker pack. Questions remained about the Barkers back line defence which allowed Alex Diamond from Aloys to have a field-day last week. And could they contain the Waverley speedsters: Mohi (15) and Fuller (12)?
First Half
Possession and territory was evenly split in the first 15 minutes with neither backline gaining ascendency, but it became apparent that committed Barker tackling was stopping the big Waverley’s forwards. This was a surprise, and even more so was the technical excellence of the Barker tight five in the set piece.
A multi-phase error-free attack by Barker pressed the Waverley line and finally resulted in a try to Lachie Small (6). It was not converted and Barker led 5-nil.
Waverley hit back and it became clear that Tom Fuller (12) had to be contained. He was running onto the ball at pace and bending the advantage line, but the Red line held. Waverley had more possession but they turned the ball over at a key moment and the prodigious boot of Barker fullback Brad Caddy relieved the pressure.
A near-perfect back line move had Barker’s Van Woerkom (14) “‘score” in the corner, only to be recalled by the ref for a forward pass.
A penalty in front of the posts was turned down by Barker in favour of a scrum, such was the confidence of the Barker tight five—but it was a poor decision and a knock-on had Waverley back on the attack.
Despite excellent work by the Waverley backs, solid tackling and strategic kicking by Barker gained field position. When Barker’s 7 and captain Andy Lloyd drew a further penalty from Waverley at the breakdown, common sense prevailed.
The goal made the score 8-nil to Barker and time for oranges.
Second Half
It was more of the same after the break.
Waverley had greater strike power in the backs with Fuller (12) and Mohi (15) both dangerous in broken-field running, however the Waverley forwards were done and dusted. Barker Tim Anstey (1) and Daniel Buffa (3) were dominating their larger opponents in the set piece and were all over the park pulling off some impressive tackles.
So confident was the Barker scrum, that their no 8 (Simon Purcell) swapped with a back and stood at five-eighth on a Waverley attacking feed 15 meters out from his line. This tactic worked a treat and the solid tackling created another turnover by the admirable Lloyd. Ably assisted by Purcell and the relieving boot of Caddy, Barker snuffed out another dangerous Waverley attack.
Time was ticking by, and eventually a penalty to Waverley had them collect three points to make the score tight at 8-3 to Barker; the game was in the balance.
Barker went on attack after the kick-off with ten minutes remaining. There was some frantic play by both teams; turnovers occurred and advantage played and rewarded; then further mistakes were made by sustained pressure. Finally Caddy scored for Barker out wide, but the conversion missed.
Barker’s 10 Bruce Thompson was having a cracker of a game. He was all over his opposite number in defence but it was his committed running that was his main contribution because it frequently put Barker across the advantage line.
Waverley needed to score twice to make the bookies happy and they tried valiantly to do so. Attacking rugby was their mantra and with scything runs by Fuller and Mohi had the Double-V pressing the Barker line.
This time pressure prevailed and a try was awarded to Steffan Kovacevic (5) next to the post. After the conversion the score was 13-10 to Barker. There was a minute left on the clock !!
A deep kick and some sustained and desperate tackling by Purcell (8) and Webb (4) kept the Waverley lads pinned in their own half.
Time was up and Barker deserved their magnificent win.
Final score: Barker 13 – Waverley 10.
The Players
Waverley – Tom Fuller had a commanding match—mistake free with damaging runs. Scrum half Murphy was consistent and was error-free all game.
Barker – The front row: Buffa, Stals and Anstey, were all magnificent and dominated their larger opponents. Andy Lloyd (7) was everywhere at the breakdown and provided inspirational leadership for a smaller but technically superior Barker pack.
Bruce Thompson put his hand up as a contender for CAS 1sts fly half.
Images of Waverley v Barker and on Home Page by https://www.facebook.com
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