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Barry’s sparkling second half performance earned them a confidence-boosting bonus point victory and revenge for the narrow defeat at Taffs Well in a Plate fixture three weeks earlier.
It was no more than Barry deserved. Forced to work hard by a dominant Taffs Well pack in a stop-start first half, they stepped up a gear after the interval, three tries in a nine-minute spell ensuring only one outcome.
Head coach Liam Scott said the first half was “frustrating. There were a lot of penalties which took the momentum out of the game.”
They also handed the initiative to Taffs Well’s heavier pack, which denied Barry the opportunity to use their more open, flowing game. But, as in the previous encounter, Barry’s hard-working and determined defence kept the visitors at bay.
Taffs Well’s 17th minute penalty try, sandwiched between penalties from Tom Perry in the 10th and 40th minutes, gave the visitors a 7-6 interval lead, and another low scoring game looked to be on the cards.
“The first half was a huge defensive effort,” said Scott, “We came through adversity in the first half. They were effective in the scrum and maul, and we had to try to take that away from them.
“We asked the boys at half-time to persevere, to control the controllables. And in the second half the game seemed to flow a bit more and we had an opportunity to show our hand.”
And as Taffs Well began to struggle in the heat, so Barry, using the backs effectively, were soon finding gaps. Dylan Robertson ended a good passing move with a score under the posts after 53 minutes, Perry converting.
Three minutes later, after forcing a turnover deep in their own half, Barry broke again, Robertson getting his second, with Perry on target once more.
Alyn Evans surged through a struggling Taffs Well defence in the 62nd minute, Perry’s conversion  putting Barry 27-7 in front and ending the match as a contest.
In a second half which, like the first, lasted almost 50 minutes as both were sprinkled with yellow cards – some for infringements, some for comments – Barry secured the bonus point seven minutes from the end when Tyler McCarthy rounded off a catch and drive.
This was a welcome victory after narrow defeats in the opening two group matches. “We can take the positives from this,” said Scott. “One or two things to work on, but I believe, with confidence, we are a very good side.”
Cowbridge RFC away next Saturday