Barry's youth squad began their new year with a 35-12 friendly win over Newport HSOB.
Despite a few key players missing, and not having had a match since before Christmas, Barry came through this friendly unscathed as they build up to the WRU Youth Plate quarter-final at Cowbridge.
Two games in January were lost to frozen pitches, but head coach John Dimond swiftly arranged replacements with Fairwater the next visitors to the Reservoir Field on Saturday.
“I felt that Newport HSOB would provide a decent test,” he said, “and give our players the opportunity to do one or two things we have been doing in training. It was a chance for some of our fringe players, so I could take a look at them prior to finalising the team for the cup match.”
Dimond said the games are “a building process, and a great opportunity to look at what we’ve got going forward. I thought they might be a bit rusty, but 85-90 per cent of what we did was clinical."
“Defensively the boys were unbelievable. They hammered everything that was thrown at them. Our back line was phenomenal. Almost everything they did – breaks, offloads – meant we scored some great rugby tries. The skill, the handing was all it was supposed to be.”
Inevitably there were a few errors, and Dimond felt that Barry might have had a few more tries.
“Four or five times we got close to the line - and passes were dropped or players overran the ball, but we’ve come off the pitch with a good win under our belts.”
He will not be taking Fairwater for granted, but “it will be another good game for us to try stuff, and eradicate problems. If it goes the right way against Fairwater, we can go into Cowbridge with a bit of confidence.”
As Cowbridge have a first team home fixture on February 1st, the Plate quarter-final will be played prior to that, kicking off at midday.
Barry scorers:
Tries - Morgan Prosser 2, Tyler Reinholdt, Joe Jenkins, Jack Huggins
Conversions - Morgan Prosser 5
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Meanwhile, Barry's under 16s fell narrowly to a 28-24 defeat at home to St Albans.
A magnificent second half fightback by the Bombers came up narrowly short at the Reservoir Field on Sunday.Trailing 21-0 at the interval, and 28-7 soon after, Barry hit back with three further tries, only for time to run out when they were pushing for victory.
Playing up the slope in the first half, Barry competed well for the first 20 minutes, but then, St Albans took advantage of handling errors and players falling off tackles to run in three tries and look comfortably in control.
But Barry had other ideas - and a superb tackle by captain Colm Edwards, who stopped an opponent dead in his tracks and then held him up with a little help, produced a turnover which was the spark they needed.
The result, a few phases later, was back rower Riley Hawkins shrugging off a couple of tackles and powering over from 20 metres out. Cam Hughes added the conversion.
St Albans were awarded a penalty try - despite appearing to knock on in the build-up - to restore their 21-point advantage, but that simply galvanised Barry, who dominated the next 20 minutes and scored three quality tries.
The first came from hooker Max O’Sullivan, who dotted down at the end of a well organised catch and drive from a lineout - a tactic straight from the training ground.
Good handling by the backs set up centre George Strong to cut in and power through the St Albans’ defence, with Hughes converting. And back rower Tyreece Carey scored the fourth try, showing great pace and fitness as he ran down the wing from the halfway line as the clock ticked down.
Barry are back in action on Sunday when they visit Rumney.
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