News

Report by Ken Watkins

A bad day at the office, or a valuable learning experience? For Barry head coach Mike Morgan there were elements of both in Saturday’s Cup match at The Tump.
Barry, beaten 32-27 by Cambrian Welfare in the league a week earlier, could easily have pulled out of the cup competition – as several other teams have – but instead Morgan used the match to give more of his first team squad some game time, and, crucially, to give some younger players a taste of Division 1 rugby.
“These types of game pay dividends,” said Morgan. “Some of the younger lads who have come up have now experienced a genuine first division game, whereas pre-season friendlies are a completely different context.
“Now they understand. They know where the bar is. They know what to work on, and we as coaches know what we need to develop. We can’t coach them unless they know what it’s like to play at this level. But in their next Division 1 game, it’s in the tank.”
But as well as adding experience, Morgan is aiming to build a squad rather than just a team. “We have to play different combinations and different units of people,” he said. “You don’t build a squad by hiding players away. The scoreline was disappointing of course, as nobody wants to lose, but today’s game was massive for our squad in terms of development.”
The first half proved fairly torrid, with Cambrian Welfare scoring six tries, one of them a penalty try, to lead 40-0 at the interval. But Barry made changes of personnel and combinations after half-time, rallying strongly in the second half and scoring two excellent tries.
“I told them at half-time to lean into the process, to stop, think of all the things we’ve worked on,” said Morgan. “To rally like that, to come out as we did, to start clicking, the second half was completely different.”
In a much more evenly contested second half, Ben Coulton scored Barry’s first try, a drive following a tap penalty, after 62 minutes, Owen Rees converting, with Danny Ryan getting the second, winning the race to a kick ahead, in the 66th minute. 
Cambrian Welfare. Tries – Iuean Chedzoy 2, Julian Huntley 2, Jonah Huntley, Liam Jones, Jack Owen, Gordon Roberts, one penalty try. Conversions – Julian Huntley 6.
*Barry Youth’s Cardiff Rugby South Cup 1 match at Rumney was called off by the home club.