Fixture

Barry earned a well deserved win against Clwb Rygbi in Cardiff last Saturday in an entertaining game that saw the lead change hands several times before ending at 25 -21 to the visitors.

Early exchanges were fairly even as both sides probed for space which was in short supply as defences ruled.

With both sides conceding penalties the game flowed from end to end without any serious threat of a score.

A 40m break from Evans was the catalyst to get the Barry backs into play which then saw E.Scott also break the defence to take the game close to the home line before running out of support.

Barry were not to be denied when a penalty clearance from Clwb failed to find touch they launched a counter which saw the ball move across the line at pace to finally reach Perry who crossed for a well worked try to give them the first score

It was Barry's turn to defend as Clwb launched a series of attacks and led to them receiving three kickable penalties.It was Barry's good fortune that Clwb were unable to convert any of them something they would regret come the final whistle.

The pressure stayed in the Barry 22 and Clwb finally got their reward when they drove a lineout to cross for a try wiide out which when converted gave the homeside a two point lead.

This was quickly reversed when Clwb were penalised at the restart for Scott to slot over the penalty to take Barry back into the lead.They were to stretch this moments later as Clwb again incurred the referee's displeasure and again Scott did the rest.

Now playing with some confidence Barry looked threatening but were unable to turn this pressure into points and were made to pay the price right on half time.A long clearance from Clwb took them to 5m from the Barry line and while Barry's defence initially held firm they were unable to stop the final drive to concede a try and conversion to take them into a 14 - 11 lead as the half ended.

Barry had had enough possession and territory in the first half and must have wondered how they were

 behind as the second half began.

They received a further shock within the first minutes of the half as Clwb scored a superb try as the ball passed through their backs at pace outstripping the Barry defence and with a successful conversion they had gone into a 10 point lead.

Once again Clwb infringed at the restart to give Scott the chance to reduce the deficit which he duly did.

Barry made changes with Oaten and O'Sullivan replacing Jones and Hollister and with Captain Hadfield driving them on they began to put together some threatening attacks.A penalty took them deep into home territory where some probing runs by the forwards were creating gaps in the home defence and as these took effect T. Scott took the final pass to cross for a try which went unconverted but the deficit was down to 2 points with some 20 mins. left.

A further penalty in a very kickable position was turned down by Barry to go for the corner, where has that happened recently, and ironically they lost the lineout too.

The move resulted in a Clwb scrum, which as if to redress the earlier decision Barry disrupted, from their own put in they caught Clwb offside in front of their posts to give Scott the easiest of chances to give Barry the lead at 22 - 21.

With the game on a knife edge both teams looked to attack but it was the Barry defence which looked most secure and stifled the opposition leading to them concede further penalties which allowed Scott to extend the lead to 4 points.

The final minutes saw Clwb camped in the Barry 22 and a series of driving lineouts took them very close to a score but huge credit to the Barry defence as they held firm and finally turned the ball over to clear their lines.

With play on half way Barry gave no further chances to the home team and with a final penalty to Barry for wheeling the ball was put into touch to end the game

A highly entertaining game by both sides and perhaps a fair result on the day, but Clwb will rue those early penalty misses.

There were signs that the Barry threequarters are slowly regaining some welcome confidence, they are always a more effective side with ball in hand, and they need to build on this and believe in themselves a little more.

Next Saturday Barry entertain Gilfach Goch who sit one place below us in the League with the kick off at 2.30pm.

For your diary, the recently cancelled game at Aberdare has been rescheduled for Saturday 29th April.

This weeks Lottery Numbers were 03 - 08 - 10 and 12 and again nobody managed to match all four.

This weeks prize will be £3960.