THE REARRANGED fixture at Abercwmboi was played on Wednesday of last week,
prior to Saturday's final match.
Unfortunately, due to a serious injury to a home player, the game had to be
abandoned with Barry trailing 13-7, with the result standing.
So, the Aberdare game had nothing at stake, other than pride, with the
visitors already assured of promotion and Barry resigned to next season in
Division 5.
advertisement
Early pressure from the Barry forwards enabled Chris Cummings to grab the
lead through a snap drop goal, followed minutes later by a long range
penalty.
Aberdare took the lead for the only time on the half hour with a converted
try before Cummings replied with a further penalty just before the interval.
It seemed that Barry may have squandered the benefit of the strong wind in
that first period.
They made up for it when from the restart the first time the ball hit the
ground was when second row John Campbell touched down in the corner after it
had slickly passed through the hands of his fellow forwards.
After some impressive midfield threequarter play to gain the attacking
position, the front row of Ashley Brown, Aaron Prosser and James Hollister
won a 5 metre scrum against the head. Quick thinking by No 8 Hywel Jones
enabled outside half Cummings to force his way to the try line and over.
The crucial period of play came when Barry were down by two players for
yellows and the excellent defence and organising by the rearranged 13
quelled the Aberdare forward onslaught.
The injured Hollister was replaced by Youth team captain David Hoskins at
prop and proved that there is talent coming through the ranks for next
season.
Back to a full complement of players for the final ten minutes, Rhys Hardy
cut through between defenders in their 22m area to score what proved to be
in the end the crucial try.
Cummings converted to claim his full house of drop goal, try, penalty and
conversion to top a fine individual match winning performance.
The game should have been put well out of reach but some poor, rather
slipshod passes went to ground at vital times.
A converted try by Aberdare from a forward drive made for a slightly nervous
last five minutes. The final action of the game saw an unconverted try and a
more flattering score line to the visitors in defeat.
Another great effort by the Barry players, but all too late in the overall
context of the season, and the question to be addressed is why.
If the bulk of this talented squad can be retained for next season and the
Seconds and Youth players coming through properly harnessed, then hopefully
it should only be a short visit to Division 5.
Squad: Rhys Hardy, Pete O'Sullivan, Dave Provis, Kyle Fahiya, Jamie Jones,
Chris Cummings, Josh Davies, James Hollister, Andrew Prosser, Ashley Brown,
Martin Tanner (Capt), John Campbell, Dai Griffiths, Owain Brown, Hywel
Jones. Subs D Hoskins, D Ryan, J McTavish, D Gibbon.
Players and supporters are asked to note that the presentation evening
will be held at the clubhouse on Friday, May 23. Those interested should
contact Club Secretary Dai James or Team Manager Stuart Lock for full
details.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
