Fixture

 

Last Saturday saw the Reservoir Field turn into a carnival day as the big crowd boosted by an open day for the Mini and Junior section with bouncy castles and go karts available were entertained to an exciting game of rugby as Barry faced newly promoted Dowlais in a match in which the lead changed hands no less than six times before Barry came out on top as winners by 30-24.

The under 8's warmed up the crowd before kick off and provided a guard of honour as the gladiators took the field.

Dowlais applied the early pressure with driving mauls and clever tactical kicking putting Barry on the back foot and earned an early penalty chance which was just wide.

Barry counter attacked and made significant progress to create chances only for over eagerness to spoil the hard work and waste the opportunities.

They were soon brought back to earth when the heavier Dowlais pack pressurised the Barry scrum to disrupt it forclng the ball to go loose allowing the speedy visitors backs to break out and open the scoring with a 70m opening converted try.

Barry went straight on the attack from the restart as James Hadfield regained the kick and took them into the 22 where yet again they were unable to control the ball in hand with a mixture of poor passing and an element of white line fever.  Chances continued to come and go for Barry but they were rewarded finally with a penalty which Kyle Barros put over after 26mins.

The visitors always looked threatening when given space and Barry needed to improve their handling accuracy to move themselves out of trouble but just before half time it was the forwards who were called on as Dowlais piled on the pressure with two forward drives close to the line which were foiled by an aggressive defence.

This brought half time a period which Barry should have been in front but as it was they trailed 7-3.

Something must have been said during the interval as Barry began the second period in a more aggressive manner with passes now going to hand enabling space to be created forcing Dowlais back.  Hitting the visitors 22 Barry moved the ball with accuracy through several phases the ball finally reaching Dave Taylor who crashed through the last line of defence to cross for a try, converted by Barros to give them the lead.

The visitors as expected hit straight back and following several varied attacking moves found themselves in the home 22 with a 5m scrum which saw Barry struggle to defend and concede a penalty try which when converted put Dowlais back in front at 14-10.

The see-saw nature of the game meant it was Barry's turn to attack where they gradually moved themselves into an attacking position. After nearly scoring from one attack Barry maintained the territory and again good use of the hands saw the ball reach Einan Scott to cross for a well created try again converted by Barros and Barry were back in front.

The game was finely balanced as Barry replaced Rhys Knapman and Hadfield with Dave Provis and Luke O'Sullivan.

Always looking dangerous with ball in hand the visitors backs were creating space as legs and bodies tired on both sides such had been the intensity of the game and they finally turned that into points as Barry ran out of defenders giving Dowlais the lead again with a converted try at 21-17.

With still some 15 mins left it was still  a game that could go either way, but as it has been the case in many games this season the Barry side never knows when it's beaten, and so it proved again as they launched a major assault on the visitors line where their aggression put them in control to finally give Scott the chance to cross with defenders hanging off his back. Again the reliable boot of Barros added the extras to put Barry in front 24- 21.

Dowlais were not done yet as they earned a penalty which brought the scores level at 24 apiece with eight minutes to go.

A hopeful kick ahead from Barry from defence looked to create no danger, but the awkward bounce put the defence in trouble and with Barry quickly up to challenge the visitors were forced to concede a penalty and 

give Barros the chance to put Barry back ahead which he duly did

Wayne Jones, James Hollister and Sion Vidal joined the fray for the final minutes and Barry seemed to be the stronger side.

Keeping the visitors at bay with some resolute defending Barry launched one final attack from the loose and a further try looked certain until an intentional knock on brought the move to a halt and a penalty which was scored by Barros to put Barry ahead at 30-24, with the kick bringing the game to an end.

A superb 80 minutes of entertainment for which you could not have written the script was a credit to both sides and must go down as being one of the best games seen at the Club for a long time.

Credit must yet again go to the spirit in the Barry squad and the way they work for each other and don't like losing.

One last game away a Clwb Rygbi due to be played last night, where a win would see Barry finish third in the League a fantastic achievement in our first season at this level where early results indicated something quite different.

On Wednesday 25th May, Barry 3rd XV will play Llanishen in the final of the Ron Locock Cup with the game kicking off at 6.45pm at Cardiff Arms Park, please come and support the boys.

This weeks lottery numbers were 10-16-18 and 21 and there were no winners.With the season now ended the lottery draw will move to a Monday with the first draw being on 23rd May.

 

Team:  Barros; Knapman, Perry, White, Adams; Scott, Lee; R O'Sullivan, Evans, Taylor; Oaten, G Jones; Poole, Hadfield (c), H Jones

Replacements:  Vidal, Hollister, L O'Sullivan, W Jones, Provis

Man of the match:  Scott