Fixture

After three weeks without a game because of the Autumn International matches, it was back to business for the Barry 1^st XV last Saturday when they entertained LLanishen RFC at the Reservoir Field for a SWALEC East Central Division 2 league match. With the visitors only two places above Barry in the league a tough game was on the cards and this proved very much to be the case with Barry clinching the game with virtually the last kick of the match.

In weather conditions which were chilly and overcast, Barry attacked from the kick off and put a lot of pressure on the visitors with the result that they won a penalty for one of the visitors backs being offside. The 45 metre attempt by Kyle Baross was unsuccessful falling just short of the mark. Barry continued to attack after the restart and should have scored with some good forward play but unfortunately the ball was lost on contact.

A few minutes later it was LLanishen’s turn to attack. Over zealousness by the Barry eight in their own scrum resulted in the visitors being awarded a penalty which their full back Sam Williams duly converted to take a three-point lead.

Barry immediately came back at the visitors with some strong forward play but once again managed to lose the ball within sight of the LLanishen line. From the resulting scrum the ball was passed to the Llanishen fullback who found touch 25 yards from the Barry line with a long spiralling kick. A take and drive by the Llanishen forwards after winning the line out on Barry’s throw was thwarted yards from the line by the efforts of the Barry pack who managed to push them into touch. Barry managed to win the resulting lineout and the ball was passed to full back Richie O’Sullivan who relieved the pressure by finding touch just pass the half way line.

LLanishen came back immediately and attacked strongly but gave away a penalty after being stopped by a resolute Barry defence. The resulting kick, by K. Baross found touch 20 metres from the visitor’s line. From the resulting lineout captain James Hadfield made a powerful darting run towards the visitor’s line and came very close to scoring, but once again the Llanishen defence infringed which resulted in one of their players receiving a yellow card. Kyle Baross made no mistake with the resulting penalty.

With 38 minutes gone it looked very much like the first half was going to fizzle out in a 3-3 draw. However, this was not the case, as a couple of minutes later one of the LLanishen backs was penalised for crossing and Kyle Baross made no mistake with the kick to give Barry a slender 6-3 lead on the half time whistle.

Half Time: Barry RFC 6 – 3 Llanishen RFC.

The second half started in a similar fashion to the first in that both sides had an equal share of the ball with play going from end to end. However, eight minutes into the half Barry cleared their lines with a long kick from Baross which resulted in a lineout 25 metres from the Llanishen line. From the throw in however they were deemed to have knocked the ball on which resulted in a Barry scrum. The ball was quickly passed to Einan Scott who cleverly opened a gap for centre Tom Perry to virtually steam in to score one of his specials under the posts which Kyle Baross duly converted.

To be fair to Llanishen, they did not let their heads drop at being behind and came back with a vengeance. During one of their attacking moves a Barry player transgressed and full back Sam Williams made no mistake with the kick to bring them within a converted try of the Barry score. With their confidence elevated they made a series of attacking moves and five minutes or so later their perseverance was rewarded when they scored a try from a take and drive movement from their forwards after winning a lineout. The conversion was successful making the score 13-13.

Barry were clearly a little shocked by this change of fortune and made a concerted effort to get back into the lead. Over eagerness can lead to transgression and this is exactly what happened a couple of minutes later when lock Jamie Oaten was given a 10 - minute rest for over reacting. The penalty kick by Sam Williams was successful giving a score of 13 – 16 in LLanishen’s favour.

On the 25-minute mark of the second half Barry were awarded a penalty well within their own half and from the resulting kick by Baross, they had a lineout 15 metres or so from the Llanishen line. A take and drive on winning the lineout saw Barry within metres of the Llanishen line only to be awarded a penalty when the defence unlawfully collapsed the drive. Kyle Baross made no mistake with the resulting penalty to bring the scores back level at 16-16. For the next 15 minutes or so play went from end to end with no change in the score.

With the light getting worse by the second and the full time whistle imminent both sides made unsuccessful attempts to regain the lead. When it looked as though the match would end all square, Barry had a penalty attempt which failed by the smallest of margins. With spectators resigned to the fact that it was definitely going to be a draw immense pressure was put on the Barry place kicker Baross a minute or so later when they were awarded another penalty for offside just outside the visitors 25 and fairly wide out. The cheers of the local supporters said the rest. The kick was successful and Barry had won 19 – 16.

From a spectator’s view this was not a spectacular game to watch by any stretch of the imagination because both teams were very strong defensively and the game could have gone either way, but a win is a win and Barry were more than happy to take the points.

Barry have struggled with injury to players over the last couple of games and it was good to see Rob Williams and Richie O’Sullivan back in the side after long lay-offs and Matt O’Sullivan having a good game on his First XV debut.

Team: Alyn Evans, Ben Such, Jacob Brooke, Jamie Oaten, Rob Williams, Jake Goodfellow, James Hadfield, Luke O'Sullivan, Kyle Barros, Einan Scott, Tiernan Scott, Tomos Perry, Christie Lockyer, Matt O’Sullivan and Richie O’Sullivan.

Replacements: Glyn Jones, Corey Warrey, Chris Deyes, Ashley Adams and Ethan Dix.

Next Match: League fixture Saturday December 16th versus Llantwit Fadre at Reservoir Field K.O 2.30 pm.

Barry RFC Mega4 Lottery Numbers for Saturday 9^th December: 6, 11, 21, 24. No winners this week so prize increases to £7,750.