Fixture

Tries:         Regan (2), O’Sullivan, Hewitson

Cons:        O’Sullivan (3/4)

Barry 2^nd XV finally opened their league account for 2019 travelling to Dinas Powis for a local Vale of Glamorgan derby.

Coach Glyn Pirso and manager Joel Williams worked tirelessly to ensure a side would take the field against their more seasoned opponents, and in doing so handed out debuts to Regan and Blake.

The difference in organisation between the teams was obvious early on as Dinas Powis probed into the Barry twenty-two purposefully, only to be repelled by some strong tackling.

Indeed it was only after a number of Barry transgressions which led to Dinas opening the scoring from a set scrum with the conversion missed.

Barry were struggling to hold on to meaningful possession, and with players often playing out of position, found it difficult to inject fluency into their attacking patterns despite the talents of O’Sullivan, Montague, Lockyer and Regan.

Dinas capitalised on more Barry indiscretion as they increased their lead with three other unconverted scores before the interval.

With Cieran Thomas limping off injured all seemed lost, but encouraging words from the management at half time revitalised the Barry XV.

With Cieran Thomas limping off injured to be replaced by former manager Ken Chow, Barry finally realised that quick ball would be the undoing of their more experienced opponents.

When quick exchanges in midfield between the half-backs created an opening, Regan was on hand to crash over to score Barry’s first try of the afternoon.  Richie O’Sullivan added the extras.

Sensing a momentum shift the Barry pack started to demonstrate their true ability with ball in hand and gained territory and possession in the red zone.

From a quick tap penalty the ball was recycled for O’Sullivan to power through for yet another score to reduce the deficit.  With his conversion true the score was now 20-14.

Dinas countered by coming down the other end and utilised their organised forwards to create two converted scores to swing the momentum, but Barry were undeterred.

Regan would demonstrate his powerful running again as he weaved through the home defence for his second try of the day, but this time the extras were missed.

It was the debutant who created Barry’s fourth, and hence bonus-point, try, when he chased down an accurate kick from the fly-half to force a turnover from the Dinas defence, before Luke Hewitson raced for the line to touch down.  The extras were added with the deficit just eight points.

With an unlikely comeback on the cards, Barry was eventually  defeated by the clock as time ran out with Dinas winners by 34-26.

This was a spirited performance by all players who took the field for Barry and wore the shirt with pride.  With some fine tuning a good season could still be had.

Barry 2^nd XV will host St Josephs next weekend at Reservoir Field, kick off 2.30 pm.  Any players interested in a run out should visit the ‘Barrians’ group on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @barry_rfc. 

Team:  Diche; Regan, Montague, Lockyer; O’Sullivan ©, Hewitson; Hall, Prosser, Bowditch; Thomas, Blake; Morris, Goodfellow, Rolfe

Replacements:  Chow