Barry RFC's youth squad prepared for a big Vale derby with a 20-7 friendly win over Fairwater.
Their final warm up match before the WRU Youth Plate quarter-final at Cowbridge on Saturday proved a much sterner test than the game against St Albans a week earlier, which was exactly what head coach John Dimond wanted.
Dimond, in his final season as youth team coach, said the decision to go for a tougher fixture had been “a roll of the dice, but we haven’t picked up any injuries. Fairwater were physical up front, and they had us under the cosh at times.”
The match was also a chance to make a few changes from the previous week. “I saw a few other players on Saturday, and some of the fringe players were given a chance,” he said.
“We want our best players out there at Cowbridge, players who can perform. A couple of players are coming back, and I’ve got the nucleus of a starting line-up in mind.”
Although he was happy with the performance of the forwards, who “put in a massive shift”, he felt some wrong decision-making meant the margin of victory was smaller than it might have been.
“We had little periods where we thought we could run into collisions, which is not really how we play. Once we started to play out wide we really opened them up in the backline. The positive is that, once they get told, they find a way out of the problems.”
The Cowbridge quarter-final clash, which kicks off at midday, is “cup rugby, and points don’t matter as long as we come away with more than them. Reaching the semi-final would be great for the boys, an achievement.”
Dimond led his Youth team to a WRU Youth Cup semi-final two years ago and hopes to go one better this time. Success at Cowbridge would leave the team one step closer to a Principality Stadium final, which would be a fitting sign off.
Barry scorers:
Tries - Morgan Prosser, Morgan Beasley
Conversions - Morgan Prosser 2; penalties - Morgan Prosser 2.
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