THE Outback Queensland Barbarians signed off their 2008 tour of the United States with a 94-0 victory over a combined San Diego Armada and Aztecs side on Wednesday.
The San Diego rugby season finished three weeks ago but two local rugby clubs assembled a team to give the Barbarians a final hit out before their departure to Australia on Sunday.
The San Diego Armada team is a starting-level Division Three team while the Aztecs play at the more competitive Division Two level.
San Diego is a big rugby city by US standards, hosting several clubs from division three up to Super League level. It also hosts the US leg of the international Rugby Sevens circuit each February, a major annual event that provides strong exposure for rugby in the Californian city.
A large percentage of Armada and Aztecs players come from military backgrounds, reflecting San Diego’s status as a major US navy and marines base.
The clubs also have a strong Mexican contingent, by virtue of San Diego’s close proximity to the Mexican border and its large Mexican population.
“You hear a lot of Spanish yelled on the field here,” San Diego Armada Rugby Club president Carlos Legaspy explained before the match.
Asked why his players have chosen rugby over other sports, Carlos said it was because of the “magic” of the game.
“What’s not to like about rugby? You can’t have a bad day playing rugby,” he said.
“You form bonds. People have to leave work early and make sacrifices but they do. They do it for the magic of rugby.”
A cool Pacific breeze was blowing across the sea-side sporting fields when the Barbarians and the combined Armada/Aztecs team took to the field at 6pm Wednesday evening.
The Barbarians wasted little time getting points on the board following kick-off, after a short pass from inside centre Zak Costar sent fullback Murray Brooks racing through a gap and untouched to the tryline with only a few minutes on the clock.
The game was played with 30 minute halves and in one hour of rugby the Barbarians compiled 13 tries, shared by Brooks (3), Ashley Kirk (2), Andrew Walker (2), Matt Tully (2), Todd Lynch, Stephen O’Leary, Tim Dwyer and Jono Bradbury.
Man of the match Zak Costar from Emerald did not cross the line but set up several tries with incisive running and pin-point passing.
Five-eighth Stephen O’Leary from Toowoomba Rangers also featured prominently in both attack and defence and finished with an almost perfect 12 from 13 conversions.
When a team scores 94 points in 60 minutes it is virtually impossible to single out players as everyone who took the field made a solid contribution to the end result.
But ultimately the final score mattered little. It was a good hit out and a chance to have some fun playing rugby at the end of a long and arduous tour in which the team has played what seems like a season of rugby in less than three weeks.
The scoreline certainly didn’t matter a few hours later when the Barbarians and the Aztecs/Armada players gathered in a San Diego bar for a few post-match beers and an impromptu kangaroo court session.