Bonus point win for Barry RFC (From Barry And District News)

Bonus point win for Barry RFC

8:00am Thursday 24th September 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share

BARRY 24 SENGHENYDD 22

SATURDAY was always going to prove to be a tough nut to crack, with 2 of the 4 teams who have netted the maximum 10 points in Division 5 SE battling to see who would emerge with a 3 in the win column.

Senghenydd, having been relegated last season, have had a storming start to this, racking 2 bonus point wins in their first 2 games.

The Bombers, having only conceded 8 points in their games, were keen to keep this killer momentum going and spoil the party for the Senghenydd 15.

Barry saw themselves playing down the hill for the first half and blood was immediately drawn with wing, Dave Provis, scoring in the corner before the minute hand on the clock had completed a single revolution.

The conversion kick from the usually accurate Chris Cummings was wide of the mark, however Barry's intentions were made clear to the sleeping Senghenydd. This wasn't a game that the Bombers were going to sit back and watch.

Senghenydd responded and knuckled down to the task at hand, with 10 points being marked up and leaving Barry trailing by an uncomfortable 5 points.

With 6 minutes remaining of the first period, Barry were soon to take the initiative and a finely worked move that began at the halfway mark between Peter O'Sullivan and captain, Chris Cummings, saw the two trade passes before O'Sullivan crossed the line bringing the scores level. With Chris' kick finding its mark, Barry took a slender 2 point lead.

Upon the restart, Barry were pinged for in-at-the-side, and further penalised another 10m for something that the referee took umbrage to. This put Sen within comfortable range of 3 points which they duly seized. It seemed that Senghenydd were happy with this potential half-time margin and eased off the gas a little.

This was to prove costly as another set of traded passes, this time between Provis and O'Sullivan resulted in O'Sullivan adding another 5 points to the Barry total in as many minutes.

Half time: 17-13.

With Barry now facing the slope for the second half, the pack were to come into their own, driving Sen backwards at most scrums and mauls. This didn't however turn into the much required points.

Instead, needless infringements allowed Senghenydd to have a punt at 4 penalties, making good on 3 of them, and giving them a slender 5 point lead.

With the smell of a 4-try bonus point, the never quitting Barry pack maintained pressure on the Senghenydd defence. Just reward was attained with 7 minutes left on the clock as the pack drove over the line with Owain Brown at the bottom of the doggy pile.

The crowd went wild, but the referee adjudged it to be held up and awarded a scrum 5.

The ball was passed to Hywel Jones, making a dive for the line. He was stopped short, with Provis emerging from the ruck with ball in hand. He too was stopped short, but with Barry going forward, the put-in at the scrum was with the home side. Another awesome scrum saw H again make a bid for the line. Again, he was stopped short.

Another ruck. Another chance. Cummings popped up with the ball and the small matter of a full back and a centre was not going to prevent him from scoring close to the posts. With a simple conversion, Barry were ahead by 2.

With the referee declaring 1 minute to play from the restart, this was going to provide 60 heartstopping seconds for the home supporters.

Senghenydd got the final act under way as the ball was lofted high into the air, but it was knocked on as Dan Myers lifted his eyes from the ball during the take.

With advantage being played, an immediate offside gave Senghenydd the opportunity to steal the win at the death. A relatively routine penalty from just outside the 22 was pulled wide, saving Barry from a cruel twist of fate. The 22 drop out was tapped forward, collected, and duly booted off the park to bring an end to the afternoon's battle.

So, a hard fought 80 minutes resulted in another bonus point win and comfort should be taken from Barry's defence, that despite only being in the opponents half for 25 per cent of the time in the second half, they prevented Senghenydd from crossing the try line in over 50 minutes of rugby.

Barry squad: 15.Danny Ryan, 14.Jamie Jones, 13.David Provis, 12.Alyn Evans, 11.Peter O'Sullivan, 10.Chris Cummings(Capt), 9.Tom Lee, 8.Hywel Jones, 7.Rhys O'Sullivan, 6.Owain Brown, 5.Dan Myers, 4.Dan Williams, 3.Ashley Brown, 2.Brad Gee, 1.Stuart Hunt.

Subs - James Hollister, David Hosking, Julian McTavish, Ben Taylor.

This Saturday Barry entertain Penygraig at the Reservoir Field.

• Print
• Email
• Share