After five weeks without a game because of the inclement weather conditions it was back to business for the Barry 1^st XV on Saturday when they travelled to LLantrisant Road for a SWALEC East Central league 2 fixture against Pontyclun RFC.

Having notched up a 30 - 13 win against the hosts earlier in the season and being unbeaten in their last eight games the expectation of Barry and their travelling supporters was naturally quite high. However although winning 18-11, which enabled them to maintain their second place position in the league, Barry did not have it all their own way against a much improved opposition.                             

On a blustery but predominantly rain free afternoon Barry started well by putting pressure on the home side immediately. With some sterling forward play and sensible probing kicks by Kyle Barros and Einan Scott Pontyclun were pinned in their own half of the field for long periods of time. Barry were attacking well at this stage but could not put the finishing touches to some fine moves by their backs. After a pointless fifteen minutes of play however one of the Pontyclun backs was deemed to be offside and Barry were awarded a penalty kick which full back KYLE BARROS duly put three points on the board.

This seemed to upset the home side and they started to attack in the Barry half. This put Barry under quite a bit of pressure and after an infringement by one of the Barry players Pontyclun were awarded a penalty which successful and gave them their first points of the afternoon.                                                                                

Over the next 20 minutes or so possession was shared equally between the two sides but Pontyclun looked as though they were starting to get their act together and looked dangerous. This put Barry under pressure but their defence was resolute and they stopped Pontyclun advancing time and time again. However the tenacity of the home side paid off just before half time when Barry second row forward Glyn Jones transgressed and was given a 10 minute break on the touchline. The resulting penalty kick was successful giving the home side a 6-3 lead at the interval.

No one can be sure what the coaches had to say to the Barry team at half time but whatever it was it had a dramatic effect because when they came on for the second half they started with gusto and put the Pontyclun defence under pressure immediately. After only one minute or so of play Barry centre Brad White crossed the line after a fine piece of combination play between forwards and backs. However, much to the surprise of the home spectators and the disgust of the Barry spectators, the referee disallowed the try deciding that Brad had been held up by the Pontyclun fullback. However all was not lost because from the resulting five yard scrum Barry got their just reward when their pack pushed the Pontyclun pack over their own goal line enabling scrum half TOM LEE to score and put Barry in the lead. KYLE BARROS added the extra points.

With the score at 10-6 in their favour, Barry was a changed side and started to attack time and time again putting the Pontyclun side under a lot of pressure. After only 8 minutes or so of the second half Barry went further ahead when their pack won some clean ball which enabled the backs to get the ball quickly out to wing DANNY RYAN who went over in the corner for a great try. The conversion was unsuccessful. With the score at 15-6 Barry must have thought that they had the game in the bag. However it was not to be and after 25 minutes of the second half the Pontyclun backs opened a hole in the Barry defence and scored what was arguably the best try of the match.  With the score at 15-11 and 15 minutes to go it could have been either sides game. Fortunately for Barry some over eagerness by one of the Pontyclun backs resulted in a penalty and KYLE BARROS added the extra points to give them an 18-11 lead. With 5 minutes to go Pontyclun were awarded a kickable penalty which was not successful. To be fair if it had gone over it would have made the last couple of minutes a very nervous time for Barry.

Considering they had not played a competitive game for 5 weeks this was a good win for Barry against a much improved Pontyclun side who appeared to have recruited well since the first encounter between the two sides way back in October.

Barry side: Kyle James Barros, David Provis, Tomos Perry, Bradley White, Daniel Ryan, Einan David Scott, Tomos Lee, Alyn Evans, Ben Such, James Hollister, Jamie Oaten, Glynn Jones, Luke O'Sullivan, James Hadfield (c), Hywel Glynn-Jones

Subs: Liam Ring, Sion Vidal, Owain Poole, Wayne Jones 

Next week, Barry entertain Dinas Powis at the Reservoir Field in a local derby Kick Off 2.30 pm.