BARRY 2nd XV 8-5 Cardiff Saracens

Tries: Knapman

Pens: Dicks

Barry 2nd XV travelled to Cardiff Saracens for their rearranged Mallet Cup tie, hoping to maintain the momentum gained from last weekend’s victory over Rumney.

With players beginning to return from injuries and unavailability, coach Rhidian Scott and manager Ken Chow had the luxury of making limited changes to the side, with the backline looking especially settled.

It was, however, always going to be a tough task to play a first-team in Cardiff Saracens and the opening exchanges proved that was the case. Barry fell foul of the referee’s whistle in the first quarter, but the home side failed to take advantage with their outside half missing both penalty attempts.

Barry looked dangerous with ball in hand, with Ethan Dicks and Joel Williams looking particularly threatening. Jamie Oaten and Lloyd Dutton were colossal in the line-out, but when the official’s whistle went again, Barry found themselves down to 14 men.

The away side also found themselves five points down before half time, when an opportunistic kick forward was not fielded by the green-and-whites, and the result was an unconverted try.

Scott resisted the urge to ring the changes at half-time and his faith in the 15 players on the field was justified when Barry dominated proceedings after the interval. After good work in the tight by John Dimond, Lee Turnbull and Oaten, Dicks put his side on the scoreboard with a penalty kick following Saracens transgression in the contact area.

The home side struggled to cope with Barry’s attacking play in the next quarter, and it was no surprise when the away side took the lead. Williams switched the angle of attack, bringing Rhidian Mepham into the line who in turn fed Rhys Knapman to outpace all defenders and score out wide. Dicks was unable to add the extras.

Saracens huffed and puffed in the final quarter to look for a way back into the game, but found Barry’s defence, led by captain Lee Jones, in unrelenting mood. Instead it was the away side who looked more likely to add to their lead, with Thomas, Evans and ultimately Dicks threatening the Saracens line.

The home side had one last chance in the dying embers of the game but when the ball fell loose and was hacked into touch, the referee’s whistle signalled the end of a pulsating game in which Barry came out on top.

Barry 2nd XV will face Caerau Ely in the next round at home, whilst they continue their league campaign away at St Josephs next weekend. The 3rd XV are also in league action at St Peters.

Team: Mepham; Knapman, Busuttil, Dicks, Poole; Williams, Dimond; Thomas, Turnbull, Lundy; Rolfe, Dutton; Oaten, Jones (C) and J Evans

Replacements: Ring, McTavish, Morris and D Evans

Man-of-the-match: Ethan Dicks