BARRY travelled to Penygraig last Saturday for a first round game in the Swalec Bowl Competition and came away with a comfortable win despite the determined efforts of the home side particularly in the second half.

Early exchanges saw Barry keen to get their backline working, whilst at scrum time the forwards began to gain the upper hand.

A fine break by Perry was thwarted just short of the line, but Barry stole the ball from the resultant scrum, moving the ball across the line to give Provis the first score of the game duly converted by O'Sullivan.

A lost lineout by the visitors allowed the home side to gain some territory and put pressure on the Barry defence for the first time. Following a series of scrums and lineouts the homeside were rewarded with a penalty to open their account.

Barry attacked from the restart but over complicating moves restricted their opportunities to increase their lead. However Penygraig's decision to take a quick drop out rebounded on them, when the ball fell to the feet of Perry, who flykicked the ball ahead and won the race for the touchdown to score wide out, the points added to by a fine conversion from O'Sullivan.

The visitors were at this time showing too much pace in the backs and power in the forwards for the homeside who were finding it difficult to get possession of any quality, and it was no surprise that following a series of breaks by forwards and backs Gallivan did well to twist and turn himself to score, once again O'Sullivan added the extras to give Barry a 21-3 lead.

A sin bin for Barry gave the homeside the chance to test the defence which was forced into conceding further penalties as Penygraig pushed for the try. The pressure finally told when they were forced to concede a try from a driving lineout to reduce the deficit.

Their joy was shortlived when from a scrum following a knock on at the restart Barry attacked from side to side recycling the ball quickly and cleanly with the ball ending with Buckland whose wonderfully timed pass found Perry who crossed for his second try of the afternoon. Another fine conversion from O'Sullivan gave Barry a lead of 28-8 at half time.

If the visiting supporters were expecting more of the same in the second half they were to be disappointed as the homeside decided to up their game and began to believe in themselves and whilst Barry continued to play their fast and open game they were met by a far more resilient opposition who were competing for everything.

As the half developed it was the homeside who appeared more likely to score and on two occasions thought they had only to be turned down by the referee.

After spending a good part of the half defending and not conceding any points to their credit, Barry started to gain some territory, but despite Buckland, O'Sullivan and Perry all going close were unable to add to their first half points tally.

Barry introduced subs. Vidal, Jones and Mepham as the game ebbed flowed from one end to the other with defences on both sides holding the sway.

One last attack from their own 22 saw the ball passed with pace and precision across the backs for Adams to have the chance to score from a distance, unluckily his final pass inside was adjudged to be forward. The game ended unusually with neither side having scored a point in the second period.

Next Saturday Barry travel to play unbeaten Llandaff North in a league game which should prove to be a stern test.