Fixture

Last Saturday saw Barry entertain Lydney, Glos. in their latest pre season friendly which turned out to be an entertaining encounter between two well matched sides who both provided the spectators with some quality rugby on a bright but blustery afternoon.

Such was the quality that the final whistle was greeted by spontaneous applause, rarely seen in rugby at this level.

The opening minutes gave no indication of what was to come as the visitors dominated early possession and scored the opening try within four minutes of the kick off.

However Barry began to warm to the task and when in possession looked threatening but the moves were either breaking down or ending in penalties.

Still having to defend, Barry withstood further attacks close to their line but also had to beware of the talented Lydney backs as they countered from deep.

One such attack was halted close to the line at the cost of a penalty but Barry were caught out as Lydney took it quickly to breach the defence for a second try and a fourteen point lead.

Minutes later Barry finally got themselves on the scoreboard as a break by Provis took play into the visitors 22 and earned a penalty from which Hollister crashed over for the try, converted by Scott from wide out.

Barry seemed to gain confidence from that score and dominated the play for a while.A further Barry attack should have resulted in another  score before half time, but poor decision making gave Lydney to the chance to counter, a score only prevented by a fine last ditch tackle by L. O'Sullivan.This left the score at 14 - 7 as the whistle went for half time.

Barry made changes for the second half to give everyone some game time and it took some minutes for the side to settle down as Lydney continued to counter attack from deep and weak tackling put them on the defensive in the early minutes of the half.

The pressure was finally relieved when a scrum clearance from Barross took play sixty metres downfield where they kept the visitors pinned down.

Lydney finally managed to launch a counter which took play to the Barry 22,but as the move broke down O'Sullivan was on hand to hack the loose ball through and win the chase for the touchdown for a fine individual effort with the conversion from Barross the scores were level.

Moments later the willingness of the visitors to attack from all areas was to prove their undoing again as they lost the ball in midfield allowing White the run in to the line with Barross adding the extras to put Barry in the lead for the first time at 21 - 14.

Now with their tails up Barry began to dictate matters.Several attacks were thwarted but they were not to be denied as a clever chip was well collected by Barross to battle his way over for a try which he was unable to convert.

Lydney were not finished and kept attacking when possible and but for some good defending would have added to their score on more than one occasion.They did score a deserved try after a series of phases to bring them within one score as the minutes ticked by.

This solid defensive effort finally allowed Barry to clear their lines and get back in visitors territory to relieve the pressure..A bout of slick handling across the threequarters saw them get the final score as winger Locksley scored his first try for the Club cleverly beating the visitors defence to cross with Barross again adding the extras  Barry now lead 33 -19.

Minutes later the final whistle ended what had been a hugely entertaining game played in the right spirit and a credit to both sets of players.

In this weekends final warm up game Barry entertain Bargoed 2nd XV, strong opposition as Bargoed play in the Premiership.

Kick off once again is 2.30pm.

This weeks Lottery numbers were 09 - 16 - 20 and 23.Again there were no winners so this weeks jackpot increases to £5860