Hard but fair contest between U12s (From Barry And District News)

Hard but fair contest between U12s

BARRY Under 12s winning run was stopped on Sunday when they hosted Dinas Powys.

This local derby is always a hard but fair game and this was no exception.

Dinas went straight into the attack using their big player Ben Harding who proved exceptionally difficult to stop, breaking tackles at will and making good ground before off-loading to Caleb Rowlands who made it into the corner for an unconverted try.

Soon after Ben was in the thick of things when he received a pass and ran in a 60 metre solo try under the posts leaving players strewn all over the field; his speed and strength caused havoc in the Barry defence, and at this point things looked gloomy for the home side.

However, they responded well and made some fine drives and Tom Perry was stopped just short of the line.

From a maul under the opposition posts Andre Williamson peeled off, and although he was held up by three defenders his strength drove him forward over the line.

The try was converted and the Lions were on the score sheet.

Barry put in some fierce tackles on the big Dinas pack and overturned their attacks; they then answered with a fine run by the half backs resulting in a try out wide by Einan Scott. Going into the break at 12-12 it was game on.

With the late arrival of Jake Connelly bolstering the pack Barry went into the second period with confidence that the game could be won.

Unfortunately big Ben Harding had other ideas and he replied with two tries in his typical style, brushing off defenders and using his speed to get to the line. One of the tries went unconverted and the Lions trailed 24-12.

In reply Barry responded from a rehearsed move at a scrum close to the visitors line, Tom Perry switched to scrum-half picked up from the number eight's feet, brushed off tacklers and gave the visitors some of their own medicine as he crossed the line.

Minutes later Luke O'Sullivan picked up from the back of a ruck and made a break; he was clear away for the line but a last ditch ankle tap brought him down, and unfortunately there was no Barry support player near him and this fine opportunity was lost.

Two and three-men tackles were constantly made on Ben Harding and he was kept reasonably quiet for the rest of the game.

With five minutes to go Barry once again responded through their backs using slick handling and selling the odd dummy, and the move ended with Tom Perry just managing to stay infield and dive over in the corner for a try.

Tom attempted the difficult kick to once again bring the scores level, but was unsuccessful and there was no further score in the match.

With the try tally equal it was the three difficult conversion attempts that was the difference in the game.

The team, although beaten, were not down and Dinas Powys knew they had been in a game; their run of high scoring wins had been brought to a halt.

Both sets of supporters responded with loud applause as they appreciated the skills and courage displayed by all in this hard fought contest. Barry are next away to Sully Sports.

Squad: Morgan Fogg, Jake Connelly, Sam Macliston, Sion Vidal, Andre Williamson, Brett Bowen-Humphries, Dean Saif, Denholm Edmunds, Ashley Bevan, Jack Fitchett, Charlotte Waller, Tiernan Scott, Einan Scott, Tomos Perrry, Rhidian Mepham, and Luke O'Sullivan.