TONYREFAIL RFC 6 pts - BARRY RFC 30 pts

THE end of April saw arctic weather conditions prevail at Tonyrefail last Saturday.

Barry may have been some distance ahead of the hosts in the league but play generally did not reflect this difference in position.

The visitors played with the elements in the first session and were soon on the attack. Their reward was an early lead with a penalty struck by E Scott. Tonyrefail declared their intentions with some strong three-quarter play, which kept the Barry defence on their toes.

Play moved from one end of the pitch to the other. It was during one of Barry’s forays that they scored a well-engineered try, with wing O’Sullivan gathering an astute chip kick over the defence to cross wide out.

The home team came back into the game with a penalty awarded when the visiting backs encroached in front of the rear foot at a lineout. This fault was recognised and penalised at regular intervals through the match.

The pendulum swung the other way and Evans crossed for short-range try in the corner. Scott just failed with the conversion when the ball struck a post high up and rebounded in-field.

On the left wing Hammonda was giving the Tonyrefail defence a headache with his aggressive running. This helped set up field position for the try of the season by the visitors. The pack set up quick possession from a line-out, Gallivan fed Scott who picked out O’Sullivan running an excellent angle to split the home defence and cross near the posts. The conversion was a formality.

Soon afterwards a home forward saw both red mist and a red card for an off-the-ball infringement. A Scott penalty rounded off the first half scoring.

The half was a strange mixture of Tonyrefail having the majority of possession and territory but Barry scoring whenever they came within striking distance of the home line.

The hosts started the second period by setting up camp on the Barry line. They forced penalty after penalty and elected to kick to the corner each time.

Tonyrefail appeared to be very low in confidence and only made half-hearted attempts at forcing a pushover. Barry did nothing to help themselves with several off-side penalties being conceded. The home side did eventually get meagre reward for their efforts when they slotted over a short-range penalty.

Against the run of play Ritchie O’Sullivan hacked a loose ball up-field, deftly regathered racing sixty metres to cross for his third try; this gave Barry the deserved bonus point.

During the remainder of the match the Barry defence was tested to the full. In this period. Tanner, Evans and Pooley tackled and covered well. Two late yellow cards for technical infringements against Barry did not affect the outcome as Barry ran out 30pts to 6pts winners.

Barry. Ryan, Hammonda, Busitil, Ritchie O’Sullivan, Luke O’Sullivan, E Scott, Gallivan, Rhys O’Sullivan, Evans, Hollister, Oaten, Tanner, C Scott, Poole, Jones.

Replacements. G Jones, Lundy, Adams, Meopham.

The season is concluded with two re-arranged home fixtures:

Nantymoel on Saturday, May 3.

Tonyrefail on Wednesday, May 7.