St Peters 2nd XV 51 - Barry 2nd XV 0

BARRY 2nd XV travelled to St Peters on Saturday, September 12, more in hope than expectation after a series of late player withdrawals.

Coaches Rhidian Scott and Martin Tanner, and manager Ken Chow, were forced to dig deep into their squad in order to piece together a side. Matt Russell found himself at outside half, Mitchell Scott made his first senior start, and Dean Griffiths awaited his debut after joining the club just the week before. Chow himself was on the bench.

St Peters were keen to test out their visitors’ inexperienced backline, but it was in the set pieces that they held superiority early on. Barry were unable to win any line-out ball, whilst the scrum was also creaking, offering the hosts plenty of possession.

Despite their advantage, St Peters were unable to score in the first quarter due to some great defensive work from Owain Poole, Jordan Clarke and Elliot Evans.

The hosts eventually made their superiority count with a penalty after 20 minutes, and from there the floodgates threatened to open.

Veteran Lee Jones had come on to replace the injured Scott, but he was unable to prevent the home side scoring out wide for an unconverted try.

Barry roared back with some good, direct running, most notably from Poole and Curtis Miller, but curiously turned down several opportunities to kick for goal. Instead, they sensed a try that never came and the territory gained counted for nothing.

Instead the hosts extended their lead with two late scores in the half to put the game out of reach for the visitors.

The management sent on the experienced Rolfe and Griffiths for his debut, and that did shore up the scrum somewhat. However, the hosts continued to dominate despite the best efforts of the Barry defence, led by scrum half Rhidian Mepham, and tries came and went.

Barry battled till the end but their inexperienced back line was exposed brutally on a wide pitch against a slick opposite back division. The score in the end was perhaps not a fair reflection for the effort the visitors put in but ultimately the late withdrawals of numerous players cost the side dear.

Barry will host Pentyrch in the first round of the East District Cup and the management will hope that players will take more responsibility regarding their availability.

Team: T Poole; Bailey, D Evans, Clarke, E Evans; Russell, Mepham; Hall, Turnbull, Heard; Case (C), Lloyd Jones; Scott, O Poole, and

Sub not used: Chow

Man-of-the-match: Clarke

Old Penarthians 2nd XV 0 - Barry 2nd XV 54

Tries: Ryan (2), A Adams (2), Moyle, Mepham, Russell, Hollister

Cons: Lee (7)

Barry 2nd XV travel the short distance to Old Penarthians for the East District Cup Preliminary Round tie on a brisk Wednesday night.

Coaches Rhidian Scott and Martin Tanner were forced to shuffle their pack in the last minute with talismanic Dave Provis out injured, whilst captain Kyle Case was also unavailable. In came Belgian Remy Frenay for his competitive debut, and 3rd XV fly half Chris Bailey was amongst the substitutes.

With the hosts forced to start the game without a competitive front row, Barry opted to play a direct running game to try to gain the momentum from the off. Unfortunately they found the Old Penarthians’ defence unrelenting, and that, combined with some poor handling amongst the backs, saw no score in the first quarter of an hour.

Barry finally broke the deadlock when Curtis Miller ran into space, and his offload was beautifully timed for Danny Ryan to dive through in the corner to score. Tomos Lee failed to add the extras.

The once disciplined home defence were temporary disorganised and the incisive Barry attack took full advantage. First, late call-up Ashley Adams profited from some weak tackling, running through to touch down under the posts, before number eight Harry Moyle raced beyond the covering defenders to score his first try for Barry. Lee was successful with both conversions.

The hosts did not capitulate but instead more than held their own for the next quarter, but were undone by two quick tries just before the interval to put the result of the cup tie to bed. Rhidian Mepham sniped perfectly behind the forward platform from scrum half, before Adams completed his brace, with Lee adding the extras.

The second interval saw a welcome return to action for Jake Goodfellow from injury, and his ball carrying skills were much in evidence, but Barry once again found the home defence spirited and unyielding for the early parts of the half.

Matt Russell, switched from wing to centre from the weekend, ran a good line to score his first try for the club, before James Hollister took on all comers to crash through under the posts.

A well-worked move behind the forwards saw Lee dance through to set Ryan up for his second try of the game to round off the scoring. The victory was slightly soured, however, by the concussion suffered by Frenay late on, as his ferocious tackling took its toll.

Team: Ryan (C); Clarke, Russell, A Adams, Poole; Lee, Mepham; Ring, Turnbull, Hollister; McTavish, Jones; Miller, Frenay and Moyle

Replacements: Fortt, Goodfellow, T Adams, Bailey

Man-of-the-match: Frenay