On Friday afternoon, 23 Denver Barbarians and coach Brian Erichsen put the finishing touches on their personal and work responsibilities as the team prepared for its first away game of the fall league season. The lads packed into the white runner vans like sardines and drove west for a showdown with Park City Haggis last Saturday. Friday night was peaceful and quiet as the vans motored nearly 480 miles to Provo Utah, where the team spent the night. The next morning, the team got together for a static run through in the parking lot before the vans were loaded back up for the remaining 45 mile drive to Park City, Utah.

The weather and the pitch were picture perfect (see above), and the teams made their final preparations before the opening whistle. With injuries and other obligations, the Barbos were eager to test out new players in this key match up.

The scoring started early, and it would be a theme of the game to come. Jason “Tubbs” Christensen opened up the scoring with some nice open field running that got him over the line. The Barbos would convert through Charles Ajarrista and held a brief 7-0. Park City responded immediately, getting their winger free against a mismatched forward and the score would be tied 7-7. Park City’s large pack scored again, this time right through the heart of the Barbos. Jordan “Flash” Gunderson would be the next to dot down for the Denver Barbarians, followed by Charles Ajarrista, who received a nice offload from the deck after a break was made by Brendan Shea. Ajarrista would convert one of the two kicks, and the Barbos held the lead 19-12 with just minutes left before the half. However, the Barbos let their guard down right before half as the Park City pack pushed a pick n go try over the line at the 40 minute whistle. The score was tied at 19-19 at halftime. Park City would go downhill in the second half, and unleashed a furious, deep and talented bench over the final 40. Eric Sykes Jr. had the lone try in the second half for the Barbos (an intercept try!), but it was not enough to stop Park City’s massive momentum (literally … they had some serious size and speed!). The final score ended 67-24 in favor of Park City.

The Barbos matched the physicality of a team that had some professional players from the Utah Warriors in the first half, but couldn’t seem to put together the 80 minute performance that they needed. Similar to the battle at Ruggerfest with the Misfits, the Denver Barbarians have shown that when the team is playing as a cohesive unit, they can match sides with many professional players.