Fixture

Barry II  33-24  St Josephs II

Tries:         Dwyer (2), Mitchell, Case, Robertson

Cons:        Robertson (4)

Barry 2^nd XV were hoping to build on last week’s away victory at Rhiwbina when St Josephs visited the Reservoir Field on Saturday.

Coaches Rhidian Scott and Glyn Pirso returned to take charge of the squad, and they handed a debut to Matt Williams at scrum-half to partner captain Joel Williams, and a reshuffling see Frank and Garth Peake revert to wing from wing forward.

The visitors were heavily depleted and were unable to field a full fifteen players, but they were much the brighter in the opening exchanges.  Barry fell foul of some poor handling and the referee’s whistle, and St Josephs took full advantage to put the first points on the score board via a penalty opportunity.

Barry huffed and puffed but failed to make their numerical advantage truly count, missing numerous chances in attack and allowing the opponents off the hook.

The hosts did finally score when Ben Dwyer crashed over.  Dylan Robertson was successful with the conversion.

The idea of the floodgates opening after that score was a novel one, and one that never materialised.  Instead it was St Josephs who kicked another penalty to reduce the deficit to one.

Barry were still not utilising their numerical advantage but did get the next score, scrambling over via Chris Mitchell under the posts with Robertson adding the extras.

With half-time looming the coaching staff were hoping to be able to build-on that slender lead during the interval, but it was not to be.  Instead, the visitors turned the game upside down within a few minutes.

First, they would reduce the lead further with another well-struck penalty.  Then, when there was confusion in the Barry ranks as to whether the visiting side were kicking for the posts, St Josephs played on and ran through an unsuspecting Barry defence for a converted score.

Incredibly, at half time, despite a huge numerical advantage in terms of players on the field, Barry were behind on the score board 16-14.

The coaches voiced their discontent during the break and emptied the bench in an effort to overturn the deficit.  Their outburst had initial success, when a clear overlap was finally taken advantage of, with Dwyer the beneficiary once more.

But with the conversion missed, the scores were soon level when the visitors kicked another penalty.

Barry continued to labour against an industrious opposition, and when St Josephs lost another player to injury the home side finally took full advantage.

Joel Williams spotted the overlap and his perfectly executed grubber kick was collected by Kyle Case to cross for his first try of the season.  Robertson added the extras to give his side breathing space.

Minutes after it was Robertson the try scorer as he cut a good angle against a tired visiting defence to score under the posts.  The conversion was added to finally put the game to bed.

It was, fittingly, however, for St Josephs to have the final say.  With the last play of the game, they ran through a dazed Barry defence to score a deserved try in the corner, bringing the final score to 33-24.

Barry 2^nd XV return to action as they visit Glamorgan Wanderers next weekend, where the coaches will hope an improvement in the performance.

Team:  Robertson; F Peake, Busuttil, Montague, G Peake; J Williams (c), M Williams; Hall, Evans, Bowditch; Mitchell, M Jones; G Jones, Dwyer, Warry

Replacements:  L Jones, Case, Raseru, Dutton