Pierreroy brothers add to Barbs’ sting

The Brandon Barbarians are hoping a little sibling rivalry can carry the team a long way this weekend.

Richard Pierreroy, 22, and his 18-year-old sibling Adam will be in the lineup on Saturday at noon as the second-place Barbarians (7-3-1) face the first-place Winnipeg Wanderers (9-2-0) at Maple Grove Rugby Park in Rugby Manitoba’s Men’s Division 2 final.

“We’re four years apart, so I never really got to play with him, but I came to watch for the first time last year,” said Adam, who is in his first year with the club. “I’d never tell him, but he’s a good player. We always grew up hating each other as brothers and this brought us closer together. “It’s a lot more fun and a lot easier to try and show him up than at the house was. I like the competition again.”

Richard sees it the same way.

“It’s a fun time,” Richard said. “We’ve really been able to let loose at practice just because it’s my brother and we’re fooling around. We get to have a little bit of sibling rivalry at practice. We joke around and compare stats and stuff. It’s pretty fun.”

Their devotion to the sport began as children when their father wanted the boys to play a contact sport, so they both settled on rugby. It was a good fit, with both brothers eventually making provincial teams.

In high school, Richard went to Neelin, so he didn’t play because the school doesn’t have a team. Adam stopped playing before COVID and then got back into the sport with the Crocus Plainsmen.

“It’s just way better,” Adam said. “It’s a little higher level than youth, and I actually learned the positions while I was in high school. It’s the culture around rugby that made me stick to it more than football or hockey or anything like that. It’s just a lot more fun hanging out with the people.”

The Barbarians have one other set of brothers, although that includes head coach Bryce Colquhoun, whose career was cut short due to concussions, and his brother Tyler.

Bryce looks back warmly at their time on the field together.

“There weren’t nearly as many of those days as I would have liked,” Colquhoun said. “Looking back on them now, the few we had are even fonder. I just remember it being so much fun watching my brother running through five guys hanging on his back, and the second he goes down, Kade (Turnbull) gets over there, grabs the ball to pass it off to me, and I’m doing the thing, punching up the field together.

“It meant so much.”

Richard lines up at 7 (openside flanker), while Adam plays 9 (scrum-half) and has also seen time at wing (11 or 14) and fullback (15). He likes scrum half because he’s involved in the play more and there’s less standing around.

While the brothers both smile when asked to give a scouting report on each other, there is a clear respect.

“He’s the type of guy who gets in all the dirty work nobody else wants to do,” Adam said of Richard. “He is a monster. He’s got the rage to fuel him as he flies in. “He’s big enough to play with the big boys but fast enough to run out with the backs, so that’s what he does. He’s real ballsy sometimes, he tries stuff that other people just don’t try.

“Sometimes it works, sometimes he gets yelled at, but he gets down and dirty. He really likes to join in on the rough stuff.”

Richard returned the compliment.

“He’s been really consistent with being able to hit the ruck or being able to get into contact,” Richard said. “He’s really good at receiving the high ball, he’s a pretty well-rounded player. He’s just a little inexperienced when it comes to certain, more complicated things.”

“It’s pretty remarkable,” Richard added. “He’s fresh out of high school, and already he’s a starter in many people’s eyes. Coming out of the gate, he was doing really well. In his second or third game he finally scored a try. In Dauphin, he scored his first hat trick already. I’m the first person to cheer him on for that.”

Colquhoun said Richard is especially impactful for the Barbarians, but both have made significant contributions this season.

“Honestly, Richard alone off his defensive skill would probably take MVP every single year,” Colquhoun said. “I’ve never seen a flanker at any level give as much pressure as he does with the way he chases down 10s … The couple of games he hasn’t made it to, it really changes the dynamic because he shuts down a lot of the opponent’s offence on his own. Just having him makes a world of difference.

“Having Adam come in as well, both of them have that same lunatic-style approach to the game. They’re going to do everything that is asked of them, make every tackle, and go for every ball. They just love playing rugby. It really brings up the whole team.”

In the 15-man game spread across a wide field, the brothers don’t actually end up together very often during the action, although they sometimes get a chance to share a word.

“We interact a little bit,” Richard said. “We joke around a little bit, but really there’s not much crossover. I’m doing my own thing and he’s doing his own thing. We’re at completely different ends of the field half the time. It’s mostly just when there’s a dead play.”

WANDERERS

The brothers and the rest of the Barbarians will have a stout challenge on Saturday in the Wanderers, who booked their spot in the final by beating the fourth-place Dauphin Mavericks (5-6-0) 24-12 in a game that was tied 12-12 at the half.

The key to the Wanderers attack is Travis Lavallee, who plays 10 (fly-half).

“One of the biggest things this year is their No. 10 has come back in a really big way,” Colquhoun said. “He’s faster, better at kicking, doing everything right and it’s really not been great for us. He alone has completely changed their team on offence. He’s got guys moving better, he’s got guys figuring out their spots, they’re hitting their lines, he’s got a massive bomb of a pass, he can make a skip pass if you try to go upright hard on the guy.

“If you’re coming up to try and shut down that awesome offence, he has an outstanding kick, which sucks to play against.”

Richard suggested they need to throw a blanket on the Wanderers right away to have some success.

“I know they’re mostly a forward-based team, but I think if we really just have our numbers out and have a good start on defence and shut down their offence, I think we could really shut them down completely,” Richard said. “If we’re at our best, this team captain is going to have to drag his team.”

Adam missed one of the games, but also has a good sense of what the Wanderers do well.

“They weren’t a fast team,” Adam said. “They’re one of the older teams and not as physically challenging. It’s more of a forwards’ game. We have a forward-heavy team. Their one guy would bomb it over us, and somebody would chase it down.”

The Barbarians met the Wanderers twice this season, falling 22-5 in Winnipeg on May 31 and 32-20 in Brandon on Sept. 6.

Colquhoun said a huge key is being ready off the opening kickoff.

“One of the biggest things has been that we’re traditionally a very slow team to start, and the Wanderers really took advantage of that,” Colquhoun said. “By the time we turned it on and had our engines running and knew what we had to do, we were exhausted. It’s great to play with your mind switched on, but when your body is tired at that point, they really took advantage.

“I’m hoping after this last game that we had, which was probably one of our best starts so far, if we can run into this weekend with that same energy off the get-go, then I think we’re going to have a good showing.”

Brandon can certainly dream of that kind of start two weekends in a row.

Last Saturday in their semifinal matchup against the Assassins, they played a near-perfect first half, going up 36-0 on a potent blend of power and opportunism on offence combined with a determined defence that gave up virtually nothing during the opening 40 minutes.

After a number of substitutions, they went on to post a 46-22 victory. And that’s what has them in position to win a championship.

“I’m very excited, making it to the final in my first year,” Adam said. “I’m having so much fun.”

The Barbs were founded in 1981, and have won Division 2 titles in 1986, 2003, 2004, 2005 (the Manitoba Cup), 2006, and 2010. Brandon made the jump to Division 1 in 2007 and lost in the final five years in a row from 2009 to 2013.

They also fielded a Division 2 team during that time, and along with the Barbs women, all three Brandon teams competed for championships in 2010. The women, meanwhile, won in 2011, 2014, and 2015.

The Barbarians no longer field a Division 1 team, and last made the Division 2 final in 2023.

That would make victory much, much sweeter for the two brothers helping lead the way.

“It would mean a lot,” Richard said. “It’s a lot for everyone past, present and potentially future players. It will bring some attention to the team and some closure to some old players, to a bunch of senior players, a bunch of guys who aren’t able to come as much. I feel it’s going to bring the club together.”

“It would be so much fun,” Adam added. “It would be awesome.”

pbergson@brandonsun.com