After battle against barbaric marauders from down under, the Banff Bears men’s rugby team was licking its wounds last week in what can best be described as a good learning experience for rookie players.
The Bears played an exhibition match against Australia’s Queensland Outback Barbarians June 29 at the Banff rec grounds.
The Barbarians are travelling through North America for 35 days as part of a fifth biennial tour, which marks the club’s first swing to Canada, said head coach David Conyers.
“It’s great to be able to play in such a place like Banff,” said Conyers.
“A lot of players are from regional outback areas of Australia, so a lot of farmers and miners, and they play for all different clubs. So when they come together on the tour a lot of them don’t know each other; so it’s true barbarians in the sense that good people come together to play that style of rugby.”
The Barbarians lived up to their savage name, as their style of play was aggressive and relentless throughout the match en route to winning 83-7.
The Aussies captured an early lead against the undermanned Bears and never looked back.
Bears’ Liam Leung scored Banff’s lone try in the second half of the match.
“It’s a tough day at the office, but there’s a few positives to take away as well,” said Bears head coach Lee Garrett. “It gives me an opportunity to see what we can work on during training as well.”
During the first half of the match the shorthanded Bears struggled to hold off the battering Barbarians, but the Bears showed a greater presence on the pitch after the short intermission.
“It’s good for these boys,” said Garrett. “Some of these boys, it’s their first season, so playing against some of these guys that are well drilled, it’s a big opportunity, I reckon, for us.”
Playing against Banff was the Barbarians’ third match of eight they will play during the on tour. While the club is in Alberta, they plan on taking in some Calgary Stampede festivities. The Bears’ next league game is July 23 in Cochrane; a make up match for a postponement against the Bow Valley Barbarians.
