Barry 2nd XV 69-17 St Peters 2nd XV

Tries: White (2), Adams (2), Williams (3), McCann, Heard, Bounds (2)

Cons: Lee (7)

Barry ended their league campaign in the glorious spring sunshine, with St Peters their visitors.

The first fixture between these sides in December was the turning point for Barry, who recorded their first victory of the campaign in that pulsating game. This time, coach Rhidian Scott, shorn of the services of numerous regular players due to injury, unavailability, or 1st XV call up, was forced to promote Forrester and Barclay from the 3rd XV. There were also rare appearances by Dutton and Bounds on the bench, with Rhys Hardy returning at fly-half for the first time in over a year.

Hardy made an instant impact, pulling the strings at stand-off, and his cross-field kick set up Ashley Adams for an early score – from then on Barry never looked back.

With the backs firing on all cylinders, St Peters had no answer to the home side’s fluent attacking style, and tries were being scored from all angles.

Joel Williams bagged a hat-trick, Adams completed a brace and Brad White scored two. Joe McCann and Tony Heard also crossed for the green-and-whites as the bonus point was in the bag well before the interval.

Substitute Luke Bounds scored his obligatory brace to complete the rout. Adam Lee kicked seven out of eleven conversions, but also missed an absolute sitter in front of the posts to round off a handsome 69-17 win for the hosts.

Barry 2nd XV will now travel to Pentyrch RFC to compete in the East District Cup final against Cardiff Met on Thursday, kick-off 6.30pm. The team and management would appreciate all the support they can get for this match.

Team: Lee, Adams, White, McCann, Forrester, Hardy, Williams, Pirso, Vidal, Heard, Elsworth, Barclay, Jones, Hewitson, Rolfe

Replacements: Thomas, Corne, Dutton, Bounds

Man-of-the-match: Williams

Barry 3rd XV 12-68 Taffs Well 2nd XV

Tries: Evans, Corrigan

Cons: Corrigan

Barry 3rd XV ended their season with a friendly, welcoming the visit of Taffs Well.

Caretaker manager Ken Chow, again faced with numerous last minute withdrawals and injuries, was forced to shuffle his pack and recalled Tony Jenkins on the wing, Andrew Houldey at hooker, and there were also starts for veterans John Dimond and Jason Evans.

With such disruptions to the pre-match preparations and against a well-drilled second team from Taffs Well, it was no surprise that the away side dominated proceedings right from the start, scoring the first try within the first five minutes.

Barry responded well with some fine forward drives from Liam Ring, Evans and Huw Davies, marshalled by Dimond and Corrigan at half backs, but the lack of cutting edge led to chances being spurned.

Centre Mike Avaient and ultimately captain Lloyd Jones also led the charge, but the home cause was severely hampered by a series of injuries in the first interval.

First Dimond was forced off with a calf injury, and Chow replaced him at scrum-half, while Avaient and Corrigan also followed suit soon after.

A back line containing three forwards, with Westall and Cleland looking more like a second row rather than a centre partnership, Taffs Well took full advantage and scored more tries before the interval.

Barry, to their credit, never gave up and pushed forward for a score of their own, and was rewarded when a well-worked catch-and-drive from the forwards ended up with Evans grounding in the corner. Chris Bailey failed to add the extras.

Avaient and Corrigan both came back on in the second half, but just as the home side looked to gain some momentum, disaster struck. First captain Lloyd Jones was forced off with a groin injury, before Avaient suffered a fractured mandible following a collision in a tackle. We wish all injured players a speedy recovery.

Taffs Well racked up the points as a disorganised Barry found it difficult to contain them, but once again Barry’s spirit was rewarded with a score late in the day.

After Corrigan has finally utilised his forwards instead of kicking aimlessly ahead, he was on hand to benefit as he powered through from close range. Corrigan himself slotted over a difficult conversion to leave him as the top points-scorer for the 3rd XV this season.

Despite the defeat, there were positives to be had, amongst which the spirit the team shown and also a return from long term, career-threatening injury for James Sullivan. The 3rd XV will hope to regroup and carry on the spirit and attitude towards the next season.

Team: Bailey, Rees, Avaient, Cleland, Jenkins, Corrigan, Dimond, Compton, Houldey, Ring, Davies, Hall, Fogg, Jones, Evans

Replacements: Sullivan, Howells-Davies, Thomas, Templeman, Westall, Chow

Man-of-the-match: Fogg