U10 Season Kicks Off In Barrie

The Aurora Barbarians U10 Season kicked off in fine style this weekend. In 4 matches, the 'Barbs had 2 wins, 1 tie and 1 loss. The turn-out for the U10 was excellent with 11 players.

Congratulations to Barrie RFC for a great tournament. At 7:30am on Saturday, all heck was breaking loose in the skies above Barrie and Aurora and it look like the day was going to be a wash-out (quite literally!). But by 8:30am the skies began to clear and it turned into a fine morning for rugby - which proves conclusively that Mother Nature is a rugby fan!

Aiden Brown and Scott Carrick lead the way with multiples tries. Other tries were scored by the "Two Emma's" (Emma Logan and Emma Mantle). Team Harte (Madelyn and Rosemary) provided great passes for their team mates. Strong, determined running by Austin Diggins, Gregor Logan and Matthew and Rachel Callaway helped set up tries for their team-mates. And finally, Ryan Schmied showed the best hands of anyone routinely collecting up "less than accurate" passes from his team-mates and keeping the play moving forward. For a team that has only had two practices together, this was a result that exceeded all expectations. Well done everyone and thanks to all the parents, grandparents and fiends for getting everyone to the field on time and ready to play.

Our next tournament is Saturday June 7 at Fletchers. This is our home tournament and one of the biggest all season. We will look to keep the momentum and the fun going. I look forward to seeing everyone on Thursday at practice.

New Rugby Laws 2008

(Article courtesy of the Australian Rugby Union)

The ELVs (Experimental Law Variations) are designed to keep the ball in play longer through fewer stoppages; are aimed at encouraging more free-flowing rugby; and will have the added benefit of making the game easier to understand for both players and spectators.

Developed by an esteemed panel of experts from around the globe, including former World Cup-winning Wallabies coach Rod Macqueen, the ELVs have already been successfully trialled in various competitions across several countries. These have included the Sydney and Brisbane club competitions and last year’s Australian Rugby Championship.

But the Investec Super 14 series, kicking off on Friday 15 February, represents the debut for the ELVs in the upper levels of the professional game. “When Super 12 started in 1996, the SANZAR countries were trailblazers in a way and we see the introduction of some of the ELVs as an opportunity to be that again,” said ARU High Performance general manager Pat Howard. “What will happen is that we’ll see a lot more attack, a lot more continuity. We’re very excited and optimistic about how it’s going to impact on the game. There is even an expectation that we’ll see scores in games effectively double over the last 20 minutes because of the game’s faster nature and the fatigue that will create.”

ARU Deputy Chief Executive, Matt Carroll, confirmed in December that the SANZAR countries had agreed to a request from the iRB to trial ELVs during the 2008 Investec Super 14. “The ELVs we are trialling have received very favourable reviews in all of the trials conducted so far and the 2008 Super 14 is a unique chance to expose spectators and fans across the globe to the benefits of the new laws,” he said. “Most importantly, the ELVs will make the tournament more enjoyable and entertaining for all involved.”

ARU Referees Manager, Peter Marshall, a former international referee, said the ELVs will also diminish the impact of match officials on the outcome of games with most on-field offences now being punished by free kicks rather than penalties. In those instances, teams will have to restart the game through a quick tap or a scrum – with the penalty goal option removed. Peter Marshall has provided for Get Onside readers the following outline of the ELVs to be played during the Investec Super 14.

Experimental Law Variations for Super 14 2008

Posts and flags around the field

Posts and flags around the field (ARC variation)

a. Corner posts will be positioned at the outside junction of the goal line and the touch line.

i. If a player is in possession of the ball and touches a corner post he will not be in touch unless he touches the touchline or the ground beyond the touchline.
ii. If the ball is not being carried by a player and it touches the corner post the ball will not be deemed to be touch in goal.

Inside the 22 metre line

When a defending player receives the ball outside the 22 metre line and passes, puts or takes the ball back inside the 22, the following can occur.

a. If the ball is then kicked directly into touch, the lineout is in line with where the ball was kicked.
b. If a tackle, ruck or maul is subsequently formed and the ball is then kicked directly into touch, the lineout is where the ball crossed the touchline.

Lineout

On a quick throw in, the ball can be thrown straight or backwards towards the defenders goal line, but not forwards towards the oppositions goal line.

Tackle and ruck

Immediately the tackle occurs there are offside lines.

Scrum

The offside line for players who are not in the scrum and who are not the teams scrum half, is 5 metres behind the hindmost foot of the scrum.

Sanctions

For all offences other than offside, not entering the gate and Law 10 - Foul Play, the sanction is a free kick.

2008 Outdoor Season Registration

(click on map for larger image)

Registration for all junior programs for the 2008 Outdoor Season will be held on Saturday March 1st and Saturday April 5th, 2008 at the Aurora Leisure Complex, 135 Industrial Parkway North Aurora Ontario. Registration on both days will begin at 12 noon and end at 2pm.

You will find a copy of our brochure which includes information about all our outdoor junior programs on the Aurora Barbarians website at www.aurorabarbarians.com

The outdoor season will commence sometime in Mid-may for the U14, U12, U10 and U8 programs. The exact date will depend on when the York District School Board let's us onto the fields. Normally the U16 and U18 programs do not begin until the end of May because of the high school season.

Please contact me at (905) 727-7480 or cgans@sympatico.ca if you have any questions.

2008 Indoor Season

The 2008 Indoor Rugby Program will commence on Friday February 8th, 2008. The program will be run out of Holy Spirit Catholic School, 315 Stone Road in Aurora. The program will go until Friday April 25th. Unfortunately, due to the March Break and Easter being so close together, we will have a 3 week break in March ( March 7, 14 and 21). The program begins at 8:30pm and ends at 10:00pm . The cost for the program is $50.00.

In April, we are trying to arrange for some time in the Aurora Dome so we can play a controlled scrimmage. This is an ideal time to consolidate what we have learned in the gym and apply it to a live, game situation. This also ends us on a high note before the start of the outdoor season in May and June.

A couple of caveats....

We are trying to limit the age groups to the 1992 to 1994 birth years. Having too wide an age group is difficult to manage and takes the fun and challenge out of the program.

Also, since this is a gym, space is at a premium. If our numbers exceed 25 players, we may need to cut off registration and attempt to put on a second night, if possible.

The goal of the indoor program is three-fold:

1) We want to introduce some basic Speed, Agility and Quickness drills for the players.

2) This age group still sees an number of new players to the game of rugby. Although we are limited to what we can do in a gym, we can introduce a lot of the basic concepts and rules that will help prepare the new players for the outdoor season.

3) TO HAVE FUN!!! It's a chance for everyone to get to know each other , work a little on our skills and play some rugby-related games.

I will be using this blog to update the parents and players on our progress. I look forward to seeing you February 8th!

Regards,

Chris Gans
Director, Community Development
ABRFC