My breakdown of the Cranbrook Barker game at Dangar yesterday:
It was a wet day with the night's rain and earlier drizzle making the ground damp and muddy. This meant that slick back's play was restricted and more hard line footy was being played; much more enjoyable IMO, additionally, scrums were hard with the front rows clearly finding it difficult to mount an assault and instead opted to hold their ground and rely on quick ball from the hookers and 9's. This being said, the game was much more physical then Cranbrook's preferred playing style - using their backs to run around the edges and taking the opportunities in counter attack. It was clear that both sides did not want to play in their own half - Barker seemed to have a rule where they did not play more than five or so phases inside their 50, never mind the 22.
Barker's playing style was also somewhat altered, the edge to edge play that they historically strive for was hampered due to Dangar being slightly skinnier than a full size oval. I was wondering how this would play out. All the talk about their coach in past years and this year can be ignored when you look at his ability to adapt the team to the location and opponent. Barker had 4 or 5 starting backs out for this game, I also heard one of which was only injured this week at training, a tight turn around for any new player to a 1st XV side. Nevertheless, the Barker backs showed their capability yesterday, with the young showing signs of brilliance and vision after taking over from the injured Luke Harrison. Barker's 10, Ben Graham (brother of the 2018 Matt) was everywhere, involved in most plays challenging the line and dispatching the ball, keeping Cranbrook guessing. The 12/13 combo for Barker was new this week with a winger being moved to 13 (the injury this week) but showed real promise, especially in defence. Particularly, Joe Kennedy the 12 put on some big hits and was solid in the line all game. The two wingers for Barker are both new to the team but really stepped up to the challenge from the experienced Cranbrook wingers. Awesome kicking game from the 14 and a brilliant on the fly leap to take a cross field kick by the 11 embodied their performance. Barker's pack was dominant in terms of physicality, ignoring the scrums that were evenly matched due to the poor conditions. Dan Stovold (c) was injured in the first 5 minutes, aggravating a pre existing injury I think, but he started well with a 15-20m run right off the first whistle. The front row for Barker, Chayton E, Tyrone A and Dion were solid all round the park. Chayton and Dion making their fair share of linebreaks/tackle busts. The two props were spectacular in their physicality, doing the dirty work. The hooker was good in the lineouts, except for a few close overthrows, seemed to take control of the edge set of players that were new to the team and was good in defence. Kyle Bowen also had another great game, similar to Ronald V at Waves with his way of slicing through the line.
Cranbrook's backline was on their game as well. Led by the number 10, Ollie (I believe), the moves were well constructed and kept Barker on their toes. The wingers always getting clean ball with space testing the new wingers from Barker. The #13 and #15 from Brook seemed to connect well together, drawing in key players and executing their counters very well. The cranbrook forward back's performance was not as obvious as Barker's but they got their job done well, solid carries and robust defence all round. Special mention to the 8, also their captain. A real workhorse all day and great gutso in defense. The Brook hooker was also good, scoring a nice try of the back of one of the Winger's attacking kicks.
Apologies to brook for the brief synopsis as I don't know many of the players and am a Barker fan!
All round a very entertaining game with the sides closely matched, tries coming off from one off line breaks or solid set piece work.
~Front Row
