Fixture

BY COLIN HAM

After a week without a game, because of the World Cup final matches, it was back to business for the Barry 1^st XV last Saturday when they travelled to the Oval for an WRU East Central league 1 fixture against 2^nd placed Treorchy RFC. With a number of regular first team players unavailable it was an opportunity for some younger members of the Barry squad to make their mark against an experienced valley club who have spent many years in the top divisions of Welsh rugby.

In calm but overcast and soggy conditions, Barry kicked off and the ball was immediately knocked on by the Treorchy second row Will Griffiths to give Barry the first scrum of the day. With the visitors lacking a bit of scrummage weight they needed quick ball and unfortunately under pressure the ball was mishandled enabling the home scrum half Nathan Griffiths to hack the ball along the ground towards the Barry line. In the chase that followed, the referee decided that the Treorchy scrum half had been obstructed in some way and to the dismay and disappointment of the travelling supporters awarded Treorchy a penalty try. With only a couple of minutes into the game the hosts had a 7 - 0 lead.

This early score seemed to shock Barry and they immediately came back at the home side with a number of attacking moves only to be denied by a resolute home defence. However, continued pressure by Barry with some determined penetrating runs by prop Alyn Evans resulted in a penalty being awarded to them for the home side No 4 Jordan Thomas not releasing in the breakdown and Barry full back Kyle Barros made no mistake with the kick from 40 yards out.

For the next five minutes or so Barry continued to attack but in their over eagerness to add to the scoreboard they were caught off side and the Treorchy Fly-half Jordan Lloyd, found touch just outside the Barry 22 metre line with a long relieving kick. From the resulting lineout, a take and drive by the home pack was stopped, but in doing so a Barry player was caught offside and Treorchy’s Jordan Lloyd made no mistake with the kick to put them in to the lead by 10 points to 3.

Barry continued to attack and were awarded a penalty just inside the Treorchy half. Although within Kyle Barros’s range the decision was made to kick for touch. From the resulting line out a take and drive from Barry was set up and flanker Luke O’Sullivan broke away only to be tackled within yards of the Treorchy line and then deemed to have not released the ball by the referee. The penalty kick awarded found touch just inside the Barry half of the field and from the ensuing lineout an attacking move was set up which resulted in the scrum half Nathan Griffiths scoring a try wide out which was converted by Jordon Lloyd.

With the score at 17-3 and 30 minutes of play gone Barry had to try and step up their game. For the next five minutes or so they tried to set up attacking moves only to be repelled by some resolute defending by the home side. During this period of play one of the Treorchy centres was judged to be offside and Kyle Barros made no mistake with the penalty to make the score 17- 6 with half time approaching. On the stroke of 40 minutes a penalty was awarded to Treorchy for offside by a Barry player and the kick found touch 15 metres from the Barry line. The take and drive set up from the lineout was deemed to be pulled down by the Barry pack and this resulted in a second penalty try being awarded by the referee to give a half time score of 24 – 6 in favour of the home side.

The second half started with Barry setting up attacking moves in an attempt to reduce the difference between the two scores. As usually happens when one tries too hard mistakes are made and this is exactly what happened with Barry lacking fluidity in attack and missing tackles in defence. After 45 minutes or so Treorchy jumped on one of these mistakes and scored another converted try to put the game out of reach at 31 – 6. To be fair to Barry, they did not give up and tried time and time again to penetrate the Treorchy defence with no success. For the next 20 minutes or so the match was evenly balanced with both sides setting up attacking moves only to be stopped by some sterling work by the opposite defence. When it seemed that the score of 31 – 6 would be the result Treorchy managed to break through the Barry defence to score their 5^th try of the game giving a final result of 38 – 6 in favour of the home side.

This was only Barry’s 6^th game in a new higher division against a side who have been in and around the upper tiers of welsh rugby for many years and to be fair to Barry the score line was not a true reflection of the differential between the two sides. Treorchy have only lost one game this season to a side that Barry have already beaten. With Barry missing regular players in their backs it was down to the younger players of the squad to try and match the more experienced players of Treorchy and to their credit they gave their all and should be proud of their efforts.

Barry Team: Alyn Evans, Dave Evans, Sam Bowditch, Sion Vidal, Rob Williams, Garth Peake, Luke O’Sullivan, Harry Moyle, Evan Wall, Kyle Johns, Chris Lockyer, Dave Provis, Danny Ryan, Ross Merrills and Kyle Barros.

Replacements: Richard Williams, Lucas Davies, John Miles, Nathan Harris, Jake Goodfellow and Jamie Oaten.