Cooke sets table for Barbarians

Randy Cooke had the first two tries of his senior men’s career to lift the Brandon Barbarians to a 39-7 victory over the visiting Manitoba Wombats in Premier Men’s Division 2 action at John Reilly Field on a sweltering Saturday afternoon.

“It’s like a 400-pound gorilla on my back so it was pretty nice to get that off,” Cooke said. “I think everyone in the league knew I hadn’t scored a try until today so it’s nice to get that one over with.”

Manitoba, which has a combined team with the Brumbies, had a strong start after allowing Brandon to recover its game-opening kick, gaining possession and driving down the field for a try by Abe Gonzalez two minutes 45 seconds into the contest.

When Manitoba stopped Brandon at its own goal-line, the Wombats bench became animated, with one player shouting, “We run this town!” and another quickly adding, “We run this village!”

If the Wombats do run Brandon, they’re truly benevolent landlords. The referee awarded possession to the Barbs off the play and Tyler Colquhoun punched the ball in seconds later to bring the hosts back within a pair at 7-5.

Cue the heroics by Cooke.

The 23-year-old Souris product ran in his first try as a Barbarian 23 minutes into the game after Brandon’s dominant scrum pushed forward and he dashed in from a few yards and dove in between a pair of Manitoba defenders. He rose with a wide smile on his face and was mobbed by his teammates.

“I never score any tries,” Cooke said with a laugh about what proved to be the game-winning play. “I’m just the meat in the middle basically.”

He didn’t have to wait long for his second one. He gained possession of the ball near the goal-line off another scrum and didn’t hesitate, scoring again seven minutes after his first try.

“The boys gifted those to me,” Cooke said. “They won the scrums and then it was just an easy tap-in. It wasn’t much I did, anyone could have got those tries today.”

Cooke grew up in Souris, playing youth rugby and then joining the local Sabres high school program under head coach Brian Yon, where Cooke thinks he last touched the ball down in Grade 10.

“I was the biggest guy on the team and couldn’t score a try ever,” Cooke said. “I was always a big team guy so it was kind of nice feeling to finally get in the end zone.”

He joined the Barbarians at age 19, noting the environment is very supportive and inviting.

Cooke took last season off and while he played briefly in a game a couple of weeks ago, this was the first time he’s seen more extensive action since the summer of 2023.

A measure of the esteem he’s held in by the Barbarians was reflected two years ago when head coach Bryce Colquhoun created the Randy Cooke True Grit award to recognize players who are making incredible plays, putting his teammates ahead of themselves and doing all the little things right.

“For whatever reason, Randy just couldn’t score for the last four years,” Colquhoun said. “We always joked with him about it but he’s also the guy who would be on the 10-yard line and make a pass out to a guy and they’re getting the try. He had the fight in him and still played unselfish rugby all the time.

“He was never the guy to pick up the ball and try for something and get held up. He always a team player and I couldn’t be more proud of the guy for getting the two.”

Colquhoun noted even when Cooke was hurt, he came out to games and supported the club.

“Honestly, if we had lost the game we would have been just as excited,” Colquhoun said with a chuckle. “Randy doing that just feels amazing. It’s been a long time coming and to get two in one day is something pretty special.”

After Cooke’s two scores, the Barbarians went up 22-7 before the half ended when Bryson McNish scored.

The day had grown steadily warmer — the humidex was around 32 with very light winds — and the punishing conditions took a heavy toll on both teams. The Wombats lost two players in the first five minutes, and were down six men and could only field 12 late in the second half, with Brandon obliging by taking players off the field to keep the numbers even.

Cayden Brown scored twice in the second half and Adam Pierreroy also had tries in the second half as the Barbarians earned a dominant victory.

The win improved Brandon to 5-1-0, while the Brumbies fell to 2-4-0. “It all started to come together,” Colquhoun said. “We have a lot of young backs and there were some hiccups definitely with a couple of forward passes and a couple of knock-ons, but once they came together, they were off. They were having a wonderful time out there and it was really good to see.

“Our forwards have always been strong, we always had a big pack with a lot of older guys on the team who have been around for a while.”

And it now appears he has a new scoring threat too. After the game, Cooke’s grin remained.

“It’s always awesome to score tries,” Cooke said. “I had a big smile on my face and it was super exciting to see all the boys happy for me too. It’s cool that way, but it’s just as good if you can assist for another guy and get that same feeling.”

BRUMBIES 44, BARBS 25

The women’s game couldn’t have started much better for the Barbarians, with Brooklyn Zemliak touching the ball down about three-and-a-half minutes into the game.

The bigger and stronger Brumbies quickly found their footing, however, tying it on a try by Steph Arthur six minutes later and taking the lead with a convert by Paris Gauthier, and going up 12-5 at the 17-minute mark when Fiona Dunn scored.

“We haven’t for a while now had the biggest team on our women’s side,” Colquhoun said. “We have a lot of younger girls, a lot of people could just easily find themselves as backs as forwards. But it’s coming along nicely, the intensity is definitely coming up a lot. They’re playing amazing.”

Rivers product Brianne Zemliak, 21, said it is a nice group on and off the field.

“We have a lot of young players so that really helps,” Brianne Zemliak said. “We have a lot of new girls, lots of girls who played high school together like the Rivers girls and Crocus girls. We’re all pretty much the same age so it’s nice to always go out together and build good friendships.”

Emily Van Mol replied for the Barbarians at the 30-minute mark, but the Brumbies scored twice before the half ended to go up 25-10.

In hot conditions, Winnipeg scored twice more to start the second half and take a 35-10 lead, but the Barbarians replied with tries by Haley Wakelam and a pair by Brianne Zemliak, although the Brumbies always found a way to respond within a few minutes.

“I thought we played well in the heat,” Brianne Zemliak said. “Our defence was pretty good because we played defence most of the game. I thought it went pretty well, all things considered.”

The Barbarians fell to 3-3-0, while the Brumbies improved to 4-2-0.

Even so, Zemliak said her team is thrilled with its progress.

“We’re pretty happy,” she said. “Our whole season has been quite a jump from last year. We’ve been winning and we have a good team.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com