Fixture

Barry 2^nd XV travelled to St Peters on Saturday more in hope than expectation after a series of late player withdrawals.

Coaches Rhidan Scott and Martin Tanner, and manager Ken Chow, were forced to dig deep into their squad in order to piece together a side.  Matt Russell found himself at outside half, Mitchell Scott made his first senior start, and Dean Griffiths awaited his debut after joining the club just the week before.  Chow himself was on the bench.

St Peters were keen to test out their visitors’ inexperienced backline, but it was in the set pieces that they held superiority early on.  Barry were unable to win any line-out ball, whilst the scrum was also creaking, offering the hosts plenty of possession.

Despite their advantage, St Peters were unable to score in the first quarter due to some great defensive work from Owain Poole, Jordan Clarke and Elliot Evans. 

The hosts eventually made their superiority count with a penalty after twenty minutes, and from there the floodgates threatened to open.

Veteran Lee Jones had come on to replace the injured Scott, but he was unable to prevent the home side scoring out wide for an unconverted try.

Barry roared back with some good, direct running, most notably from Poole and Curtis Miller, but curiously turned down several opportunities to kick for goal.  Instead, they sensed a try that never came and the territory gained counted for nothing.

Instead the hosts extended their lead with two late scores in the half to put the game out of reach for the visitors.

The management sent on the experienced Rolfe and Griffiths for his debut, and that did shore up the scrum somewhat.  However, the hosts continued to dominate despite the best efforts of the Barry defence, led by scrum-half Rhidian Mepham, and tries came and went.

Barry battled till the end but their inexperienced back line was exposed brutally on a wide pitch against a slick opposite back division.  The score in the end was perhaps not a fair reflection for the effort the visitors put in but ultimately the late withdrawals of numerous players cost the side dear.

Barry will host Pentyrch in the first round of the East District Cup and the management will hope that players will take more responsibility regarding their availability.

Team:  T Poole; Bailey, D Evans, Clarke, E Evans; Russell, Mepham; Hall, Turnbull, Heard; Case ©, Lloyd Jones; Scott, O Poole, Miller

Replacements:  Griffiths, Rolfe, Lee Jones

Sub not used:  Chow

Man-of-the-match:  Clarke