Clwb Rygbi nearly give Barry a Halloween nightmare (From Barry And District News)

Clwb Rygbi nearly give Barry a Halloween nightmare

7:50am Thursday 5th November 2009

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BARRY 23 CLWB RYGBI 18

BARRY entertained Clwb Rygby in a Swalec Bowl 3rd round fixture last Saturday and recorded a narrow victory.

The visitors had the benefit of both wind and slope for the first period and soon demonstrated that they were no minnows, with some incisive attacks through their forwards and astute kicking from their inside backs.

They played 'heads-up' rugby by pinning Barry down in the lower corner of the pitch at every opportunity.

They took three chances within the first 10 minutes to open up a 9pt lead with two well struck penalties and a short-range drop goal.

Barry showed an inexplicable naivety by not engaging more closely with a visiting pack of forwards who were clearly much lighter and smaller.

For long periods this bulk advantage was not exploited, allowing the Cardiff side to dictate how the game was to be played.

However, by the half hour mark the home side was rewarded when Cummings kicked a good penalty into a blustery head wind.

With half-time approaching, the home side entered a period during which they were well served by three players.

Those who caught the eye were full back Hardy displaying good catching and kicking skills; centre Taylor with some 'Jamie Roberts' bullocking runs; and Taylor on the wing showing excellent defensive work.

At the half-time whistle, the home side failed with a relatively easy penalty, leaving the visitors with a well deserved lead of 9pts to 3.

For this second half Barry would have the advantage of playing with both slope and the elements in their favour.

All present thought that by learning from the way the opposition had used these factors to their advantage, the tactics would be clear to their play makers – only to be disappointed!

Supporters had to witness an incoherent mixture of backs kicking aimlessly and conceding possession and forwards joining in with short kicks ahead in attack.

It was patently obvious that the former needed to put the ball into the bottom corner to establish an attacking platform and the latter to engage physically with the much lighter and tiring Clwb Rygbi pack.

The inevitable happened with Barry conceding another penalty which was converted and restored the 9 point lead for the Cardiff side.

The cavalry duly arrived in the form of Hunt, Hollister, Prosser and Oxenham - the last-mentioned fortunate to stay on the field for long.

Barry were at last showing that they were interested in taking the game to their opponents, although sensible line kicking was still off the radar.

Good play by scrum-half Lee allowed Barry to close in on their opponents' line. Brown made no mistake with a smartly taken tap penalty which caught the defence off-guard. The extra points were added by the captain.

Between the 20th and 30th minutes each side scored two penalties to set up an exciting final period with the visitors sitting on a 2 point lead.

The final score went to Barry, a fine effort by Hollister, who showed great determination and no little skill to force himself over after an "angled" run from fully 20metres.

With the try converted Barry, had escaped from an almost self-inflicted defeat.

Men of The Match: Hollister and Hardy.

Barry next play away at Deri on Saturday, November 14 and given league positions they ask for as much support as possible.

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