Barry RFC saw their pre-season friendly against Newport HSOB being abandoned due to injury,
The Bombers were trailing 13-5 when referee Tom Griffin was flattened after a visiting player collided with him ten minutes before the end.
After treatment from the physios from both clubs, he was forced to cut short this scrappy windswept game, having taken a knock on the head.
Despite odd patches of quality rugby, this game saw far too many stoppages as the penalty count mounted - many of the offences not clear to the players or spectators. Diplomatically, head coach Mike Morgan described the match as “a test of character” for his team.
As per last week's win over Pill Harriers, Barry played against the strong wind in the first half - and were forced to spend spells deep in their own 22. But after conceding a try in the 9th minute, they generally kept the visitors at bay with Morgan praising their “skill and vision to get out with the ball in hand”
Another major positive, he felt, was the fitness that Barry's players demonstrated - something the players have been worked hard on in training. Holiday absences meant Barry had to move to passive scrums following injuries and going down to 13 men when Josh Edwards got an undeserved second half yellow card, but both made little difference.
“Fitness will tell in the coming season,” said Morgan.“I’m happy with the fitness. When we were down to 13 players, we were still playing like minute one. The players are now seeing the fruits of their labour in training.”
Barry scored an excellent 48th minute try, when Alyn Evans stole possession at a lineout, surged forward and fed Edwards, near the touchline, who outpaced the defence before cutting in to touch down. Owen Rees’ conversion shaved the outside of the post.
The visitors’second try came on the hour mark when Barry were down to thirteen men.
The scrum and lineout were, Morgan felt, an improvement on the previous week although Barry were too high in the maul. Something to work on before the opening Admiral League match on September 7th, when newly promoted Penarth are the visitors to the Reservoir Field.
The visitors obviously came determined to battle – one first-half punch was not spotted, along with other offences of varying degrees. On those Morgan said: “You can’t control what’s going on around you, but you can control how you react to it."
“The game challenged us. If players get pinged it’s not always their fault. But the boys kept their cool. I thought we acted positively, and the game brought us together a bit more.”
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