Barry RFC continued their pre-season preparations with a 21-17 win at home to Pill Harriers.
Head coach Mike Morgan will be checking the film of Saturday’s pre-season fixture this week, ticking the box for aspects of the game that went as planned, and looking at those that didn’t before deciding what to ditch and what can be fixed.
Morgan got the win he wanted – “it gives the players a bit of confidence, a bit of pride” – and the test he was hoping for.
Pill may play one division lower, but they provided Barry with a challenging contest, particularly in the first half, when their forward power produced three tries.
Barry absorbed the lessons of that half, and then in the second, “got back to our basics, the core element of our play,” said Morgan, “simple, but fast and effective rugby.”
If Barry had been on the back foot in the first half, that change of approach in the second turned the game completely around.
“Pre-season, the players have a licence to try things,” said Morgan.“We tried a few things that didn’t work, and found ourselves deep in our own 22. In the first half the breakdown was very messy, and we made errors in midfield which allowed Pill to have good field advantage."
“But credit to them, their driving lineout was strong. We needed to do better at defending a driving lineout. The second half was more constructive. We started moving the ball round effectively, and pushed them a little bit wider. If we had done that in the first half, the margin might have been more."
His message at half-time was straightforward – manage the relationship with the referee and go back to the simple game plan.
“All credit to the players, they worked with the referee, so there were fewer penalties, and the game was flowing a bit more."
Pill scored tries in the 11th, 15th and 40th minutes to lead 17-7 at half-time, with all three of their tries coming from forward drives.
Barry hooker Dafydd Jones scored the first of his two tries in the 22nd minute, rounding off a spell of pressure. His second came immediately after the interval, taking a return pass from his lineout throw, and racing clear down the touchline to go over unchallenged.
Rhys Forse put Barry in front after 71 minutes as the pressure told, with Owen Rees making it three out of three conversions.
“Today we learned, under pressure, what works and what doesn’t,” said Morgan. “It was a genuine test.”
Barry face another tough pre-season match on Saturday when Newport HSOB are the visitors, after being crowned Division 2 East champions last season.
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