Barry RFC Youth reached the knockout stages of the Cardiff Premiership Cup with a 38-32 win over Treorchy.
Victory in their final group match lifted the young Bombers above their opponents to finish second in the Blue division.
Barry have been drawn at home to Old Penarthians in the first round of the knockout stages, which will be played at the Reservoir Field this Saturday (1.30pm ko).
Head coach John Dimond was full of praise for the performance of his players against Treorchy. “They bought into what we have been trying to do in training, they raised the level, and produced everything we asked of them."
"They defended for their lives, stuck to what we have been doing, and looked far the better team of the two", he said.
The margin of victory might have been greater with Barry having two breakaway tries and one interception called back. And one kick, which went high above the posts, was ruled out as the touch judges could not agree.
“The forwards are just dominating the lineouts and scrums, and not a lot of teams can find an answer to us up front,” said Dimond. “If we can win the set pieces, dominating up front and going forward all the time, that’s the perfect platform. And our back line is quite lethal.”
Ever the perfectionist, Dimond said the players would be back in training during the week, “working on a few little things. But I can’t criticise what they did on Saturday. They were phenomenal.”
Aberdare topped the tightly-contested Blue group on 19 points, one point ahead of Barry, who won three of their five matches with their only defeat coming at the hands of the group winners. Treorchy took third place on 17 points.
Barry scorers:
Tries - Rauley Hunter, Maverick Jennings, Ellis O’Grady, Issac Thomas, Rhys Berens, Joe Jenkins
Conversions – Morgan Prosser 3, Caelan Hurley.
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Barry have been drawn away to Beddau in the second round of the WRU Youth Plate, due to be played on December 14th. Beddau finished fourth in the Cardiff Premiership Black group.
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