BARRY RFC 1st XV 25pts

NANTYMOEL 1st XV 0

IN contrast to the wet conditions which forced the postponement of the original fixture earlier in the season, good weather prevailed at the Reservoir Field on Saturday for Barry’s last home game of the season.

The home XV started positively, with the forwards dominating the set pieces and the backs clearly enjoyed the quick, clean ball. Barry earned a penalty that Scott kicked from fully 45 metres to give them the lead.

Nantymoel began using their impressive back division and earned the chance to level the scores. However, their kicker inexplicably missed the kick from in front of the posts.

Barry settled into a long period of dominance, with Evans and Tanner making the hard yards. The forwards settled into a rhythm and the backs alternated between running and kicking effectively. They were helped with regular errors from a brittle visiting full back.

The first half was drawing to a close when Scott extended the home side’s lead with a further successful penalty.

This half was characterised by a strong performance from the Barry tight forwards that gave little scope for the visitors to use their back division.

Like in the first half, the home team started the second period positively and, when they attacked on the left, only a late tackle prevented a try. However, Nantymoel did not have time to regroup from the resulting yellow card before their opponents surged forward from a five-metre scrum to release Luke O’Sullivan for the try.

To their credit, Nantymoel came back strongly and put some pressure on the Barry defence. So it was against the run of play when Poole released Hamonda for a try scored near enough to the posts for the conversion to be a formality.

Not to be outdone, the visitors set up play near the Barry line and used any penalty to kick into the corners. The home defence demonstrated their improved defensive capabilities by keeping the attackers at bay.

The game was effectively settled on the half-hour mark when Evans broke through several tackles to score a good individual try from 15 metres. From then to the close, the match drifted back and forth, with neither team threatening to involve the scorer.

This half saw the home team laying the foundations of victory on strong and effective tackling that prevented Nantymoel from setting up any threatening field positions.

Barry: Ryan, Hamonda, T Scott, Ritchie O’Sullivan, Adams, E.Scott, Lee, Jones (capt), Poole, Luke O’Sullivan, Oaten, Tanner, Hollister, Evans and Rhys O’Sullivan. Replacements: Cordle, Lundy, Busuttil and Hadfield.

C O