By Ken Matthews
February 21, 2009
(Highlands Ranch, Colorado)  Denver Barbarians avenged a tight loss in the 2008 Aspen Ruggerfest finals with a decisive 67-15 victory over the Gentlemen of Aspen Saturday.  Aspen came down from the mountains as the two clubs opened their 2009 campaigns at Shea Stadium on a sun drenched Colorado afternoon.
The Barbarians opened their ledger only 4 ½ minutes into the match, when they stole an Aspen lineout at the Gentlemen’s 10-meter line.  The ball was spun to inside center Ben Haapapuro who crashed into the Aspen midfield defense and set a good platform.  From there, Denver’s forwards took over and punched it in with loosehead prop Chris Moreno touching down.  Flyhalf Joe Pizzi converted.  Barbarians 7, Aspen 0.
Seven minutes later Denver struck again following a set piece turnover.  From Aspen’s 20, the Barbarians took an Aspen scrum.  #8 Pat Quinn picked up and bolted blindside for the try.  Pizzi’s conversion was good.  Barbarians 14, Aspen 0.
Aspen kicked over Denver’s aggressive defense, finding space behind the Barbo’s right wing.  Fullback Jodie Kramer covered the kick nicely, but the Aspen chase caught him in possession.  Kramer was penalized for holding on and Aspen quick tapped to score in the right corner.  The conversion failed.  At 14 minutes, Barbarians 14, Aspen 5.
Pizzi slotted a penalty from inside the Aspen 22 at 21 minutes.  Barbarians 17, Aspen 5.
At 24 minutes, Denver’s Haapapuro was yellow-carded at tackle.  Nonetheless, Denver scored next.  From an Aspen defending 5-meter scrum, Denver won against the head.  #8 Quinn picked up and ran blindside, passed to #9 Matt Lancaster who took it near the goal line.  The Barbarians recycled the ball to hooker Tim Russo, who scored.  Pizzi’s conversion failed.  At 29 minutes, Barbarians 22, Aspen 5.  There was no further scoring in the half.
Aspen tightened the match at the beginning of the second half.  From turnover ball following their kickoff, Aspen countered along the blind side with a nice move down the wing and scored.  The conversion failed.  At 41 minutes, Barbarians 22, Aspen 10.
From that point on, Denver put the pedal down and never looked back.  From a lineout at the Aspen 22, the Barbarian pack went on a walk, driving a maul to the goal line, with Russo scoring his second try.  Replacement flyhalf Dan Bludeau converted.  At 45 minutes, Barbarians 29, Aspen 10.
At 53 minutes, the Denver forwards attacked with a series of forward rushes, recycled ball and driving another exhausting maul for 20 yards before Aspen brought it crashing down.  Former Eagle lock Mike Mangan muscled the last few yards for the try.  Bludeau converted.  Barbarians 36, Aspen 10.
Denver counterattacked with turnover ball at 60 minutes and a forward try resulted.  Bludeau converted.  Barbarians 43, Aspen 10.
Denver struck again at 65 minutes.  Barbarian counter rucking turned over Aspen possession at the Gentlemen’s 10 meter line and replacement #6 Garrett Peterson took it the distance down the blindside.  Lancaster converted.  Barbarians 50, Aspen 10.
At 65 minutes, the Denver forwards went on another rumble.  When the pack attack was halted, the ball was spun to the left, where center Jake Humphrey made a break down the touchline.  Aspen’s cover defense closed and Humphrey fed the ball back inside to scissoring wing Dan Murphy, making his debut for Denver.  Murphy broke tackles to take to a center touch.  Lancaster converted.  Barbarians 57, Aspen 10.
Aspen attacked off good possession at the Barbo 10-meter line and spun the ball to the right.  The Denver slide defense failed to cover and a line break in the centers put the ball to the right wing who made some nifty moves to touch down.  The conversion failed.  Barbarians 57, Aspen 15.
Aspen kicked off, Denver secured good possession deep and kicked downfield.  Aspen countered the kick with their own kick to the Barbarian wing.  #8 Pat Quinn fielded the kick and counterattacked.  Quinn powered through several tackles up the right side, made a long break, and was pulled down inside the Aspen 22.  The Barbarians recycled the ball and spun the ball left to another ruck inside the Aspen 10.  Clean ball was sent to wing Asham Bell, who had come off his left wing, where he took the ball from #10 Bludeau, dummied a pass and broke clean for a center touch.  Lancaster’s conversion failed.  Barbarians 62, Aspen 15.
The ledger was closed when Bludeau made a line break from flyhalf and made a 50 meter run, offloaded to replacement #7 Andrew Post and Post jammed the attack down inside the Aspen 22-meter line.  From quick ball, the Barbarians spun the ball right to a huge overload finished off by fullback Kramer.  Lancaster’s drop kick conversion failed.  Final score Barbarians 67, Aspen 15.
Denver’s forward pack was dominant, consistent at the line out and destructive on Aspen’s scrums.  Aspen looked dangerous with ball in hand, but could not sustain their attack due to the Barbarians forwards.
DENVER BARBARIANS:  1 Chris Moreno, 2 Tim Russo, 3 Mike Kelly, 4 Adam Drury, 5 Mike Mangan, 6 Nic Johnson, 7 Justin Stencil, 8 Pat Quinn, 9 Matt Lancaster, 10 Joe Pizzi, 11 Dan Murphy, 12 Ben Haapapuro, 13 Jake Humphrey, 14 Asham Bell, 15 Jodie Kramer.
Replacements:  Travis Meidinger, Dan Bludeau, Peter Barclay, Josh Masek, Garrett Peterson, Andrew Post, Guy Mumford.
Scoring:
Denver Barbarians:
Tries:  C. Moreno, Quinn, Russo 2, unknown, Mangan, Peterson, Murphy, Bell, Kramer.
Conversions:  Pizzi 2, Bludeau 3, Lancaster 2
Penalty:  Pizzi
Gentlemen of Aspen:  Lineup unavailable.
Tries:  3
Referee:  Tim Luscombe, Eastern Rockies Rugby Football Union.
In the preliminary matches, Mountain Vista-Thunder Ridge defeated Chaparral B’s in a high school encounter, 19-5, and Aspen defeated the Barbarian DII side 44-5.

Tweet This Post