ST JOSEPHS 63-10 Barry 2nd XV

Tries: D Evans

Cons: D Evans

Pens: D Evans

Barry 2nd XV travelled to St Josephs with a threadbare squad more in hope than expectation.

Coach Rhidian Scott and player-manager Ken Chow were faced with a string of late withdrawals and unavailability. With resources stretched to the limit, there was a recall for Jamie Jones who played his first game for two years; whilst there were also nine other changes from the side which beat Cardiff Saracens last weekend. Chow himself started on the wing for the first time since the same fixture last season.

The opening signs were not good. Barry was hoping that with their heavier pack could dominate proceedings in the tight, but the home side negated that by informing their opposition of their intention to go uncontested in the scrums from the off. Unlike the visitors, St Josephs had no first-team fixture so also had the full squad to choose from and their quality showed in the early proceedings.

Lacking the structure of their hosts, Barry struggled to find much rhythm and St Josephs raced into the 15-0 lead before the visitors had a chance to shine with ball in hand. There were good carries in the tight from Nick Lundy, Jon Morris, Nick Rolfe and Lee Turnbull, whilst the new half-back partnership of Mepham and Dicks controlled matters behind the pack.

Having missed a long range penalty earlier, Dave Evans did get the visitors on the score sheet with a well-struck penalty to reduce the deficit. At half-time Barry found themselves only 15-3 down.

Barry’s cause was not helped when they were harshly reduced to 14 men early in the second half with the sin-binning of Jon Morris, and the hosts quickly increased their lead with another try out wide.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Barry rallied and produced their best period of the game, with Lloyd Jones and Jon Morris making breaks from midfield, giving the platform for the visitors to lay siege on the home line.

The pressure eventually told when Dave Evans crashed through for a well-deserved try. Evans added the extras to leave the score 20-10.

Just when the visitors were dreaming of a miraculous comeback, they found themselves another man down when Dicks was sent to the bin. This time there was no repeat of the earlier heroics as St Josephs fully exploited the space out wide to score six unanswered tries in the 10 minutes of numerical advantage.

Despite tiring legs and with only half of the bench filled, Barry fought on until the end till the final whistle. The final score did not reflect the effort of the players involved and the management would like to thank the excellent attitude shown by those who turned up for this tough fixture.

The 2nd XV will return to action in the New Year with a trip to St Peters on January 3, whilst the 3rd XV also visit Sully Sports on the same day.

Team: Bailey; Chow, J Jones, D Evans, E Evans; Dicks, Mepham; Davies, Turnbull, Corne; McTavish, Lundy; Morris, L Jones and Rolfe (C)

Replacements: Thomas, Hall

Man-of-the-match: D Evans