Barbarians fall in OWL final

August 23, 2017 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

The Toronto Saracens earned their revenge one year in the making on the Aurora Barbarians Saturday in the Ontario Women’s League rugby championship.
A streak of two straight Aurora OWL championships was snapped at Fletcher’s Field when the Saracens defeated the Barbarians 44 – 26 to claim the provincial title, the third time in three years the teams have clashed in the final.
It was the cherry on the top of a perfect season for the Saracens, who opened the match with a quick penalty conversion just a few minutes in. They took a 10 – 0 lead on a converted try in the twelfth minute, doubling their lead just ten minutes later.
Aurora began to mount a comeback with a pair of tries to bring the deficit back to six points, before a flurry of Toronto scores made it a 37 – 14 game heading into the half.
Toronto held onto the lead until the final whistle.
The women reached the finals after a 27 – 19 win over the Toronto Scottish at Fletcher’s Field last weekend.
Aurora was also pitted against the Saracens in the OWL 2 championship, pitting the secondary squads against each other on the same day. A back-and-forth effort had the teams score a try each early on, before a late Saracens try game them a 14 – 7 lead at the half.
Both sides swapped a few more scores in the final forty minutes, though Aurora could not make up the deficit and fell by a score of 24 – 12.
The men’s sides continue their regular season with a visit to Lindsay RFC this Saturday.