Kansas City, MO — The Milwaukee Barbarians hit the road today for the first of 3 consecutive away matches starting with the Kansas City Blues.
Kansas City is the longest road trip for Milwaukee in USA Rugby's Midwest Division 1 and the Barbarians have long-struggled to be competitive. In nine prior meetings with the Barbarians, the Blues had never lost a match.
As clear favorites, the Blues got out to an early 7-0 lead after just 4 minutes. Shortly after, a yellow card to Barbarian Rob Bartlett was followed by another try by the home side to extend their lead to 12 points with 30 minutes remaining in the half.
The rest of the first half was a primarily a defensive standoff with the Barbarians scoring a single try from winger Matt Drzweicki at the 20-minute mark. After the conversion by captain Nick Vigder (shown above) the Blues remained in the lead 12-7, a lead they would carry into halftime.
Milwaukee goes on the offense in the second half
The first of five lead changes started early in the second half as Vigder crossed the whitewash and converted his own try. The Barbarians 14-12 lead was short-lived however as the Blues struck back almost immediately with a penalty kick despite having a player sent off for foul play (yellow card).
Drzweicki then dotted down for his second of the day to retake the lead 21-15 which was matched by a converted try from the Blues.
With 20 minutes remaining, the Blues lead by the slimmest of margins: 22-21.
The Barbarians then starved the hosts for possession while their tempo with ball-in-hand continued to gain steam. They were rewarded with tries by the pack through Cwiklis and Bastian at the 65th and 75th minutes.
They final five minutes of the match were a bit frantic but the Barbarian defense held and they were awarded a penalty in the dying seconds to finish the match on top 31-22.
The bonues-point victory marks the second consecutive win by the Barbarians and their first on the road in Kansas City. With a 2-1-0 record, the Milwaukee rugby team is tied for 3rd place in the Division 1 standings.
On Deck
The Division 1 squad heads to Cincinnati to take on the 7th-ranked Wolfhounds. Division 3 heads to Illinois to take on the Rockford Ravens.
Scoring Summary
Barbarians, 31 (5T, 3C)
- Nick Vigder, 11 (1T, 3C)
- Matt Drzweicki, 10 (2T)
- Kyle Cwiklis, 5 (1T)
- Ben Bastian, 5 (1T)
KC Blues, 22 (3T, 2C, 1PK)
Roster
- #1 King, Damon
- #2 Grams, Joseph
- #3 Konvalinka, Michael
- #4 Bastian, Benjamin
- #5 Ruys, Adam
- #6 Gray, David
- #7 Sims, Anthony
- #8 Cwiklis, Kyle
- #9 Vigder, Nick
- #10 Gardener, Joseph
- #11 Smith, Eddie
- #12 Strenk, Brian
- #13 Cebe, Jeffrey
- #14 Drzewiecki, Matt
- #15 Bartlett, Robert
- #16 loots, johannes
- #17 Bell, Conor
- #18 Abt, Jared
- #20 Mross, Alex
- #21 Chini, Todd
Match Stream
| MIN | EVENT | SIDE | SCORE | DETAILS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3' | TR score | KCB | 5 - 0 | #13 - Weber, Cody |
| 4' | CV score | KCB | 7 - 0 | #10 - Mercer, Michael |
| 10' | TR score | KCB | 12 - 0 | #5 - Wirken, Matt |
| 10' | Y card | MIL | 12 - 0 | #15 - Bartlett, Robert |
| 20' | TR score | MIL | 12 - 5 | #14 - Drzewiecki, Matt |
| 21' | CV score | MIL | 12 - 7 | #9 - Vigder, Nick |
| 30' | IJ sub | MIL | 12 - 7 | Off: #12 - #12 - Strenk, Brian On: #20 - #20 - Mross, Alex |
| 32' | Y card | KCB | 12 - 7 | #6 - Clarke, James |
| 40' | TC sub | MIL | 12 - 7 | Off: #7 - #7 - Sims, Anthony On: #17 - #17 - Bell, Conor |
| 43' | TC sub | KCB | 12 - 7 | Off: #8 - #8 - Eftink, Jim On: #16 - #16 - Korvick, Richard |
| 45' | TR score | MIL | 12 - 12 | #9 - Vigder, Nick |
| 46' | CV score | MIL | 12 - 14 | #9 - Vigder, Nick |
| 48' | PK score | KCB | 15 - 14 | #10 - Mercer, Michael |
| 51' | TR score | MIL | 15 - 19 | #14 - Drzewiecki, Matt |
| 52' | CV score | MIL | 15 - 21 | #9 - Vigder, Nick |
| 56' | TR score | KCB | 20 - 21 | #16 - Korvick, Richard |
| 57' | CV score | KCB | 22 - 21 | #10 - Mercer, Michael |
| 60' | TC sub | MIL | 22 - 21 | Off: #5 - #5 - Ruys, Adam On: #16 - #16 - loots, johannes |
| 64' | TC sub | KCB | 22 - 21 | Off: #9 - #9 - Cummings, Casey On: #17 - #17 - Rice, Jordan |
| 65' | TR score | MIL | 22 - 26 | #8 - Cwiklis, Kyle |
| 66' | TC sub | KCB | 22 - 26 | Off: #12 - #12 - McDonough, David On: #19 - #19 - Hilterman-Haider, Lucas |
| 76' | TC sub | KCB | 22 - 26 | Off: #4 - #4 - harbour, cale On: #23 - #23 - routh, trigg |
| 77' | TR score | MIL | 22 - 31 | #4 - Bastian, Benjamin |
| 78' | TC sub | KCB | 22 - 31 | Off: #3 - #3 - Scheidt, Ryan On: #20 - #20 - Hayes, Brandon |
| 78' | TC sub | KCB | 22 - 31 | Off: #13 - #13 - Weber, Cody On: #18 - #18 - Johnson, Silvanus |
The complete and official match report can be found on the USA Rugby website.
