Barry Youth go top with a fine win at Ponty
Cardiff Division Two - Pontypridd 17 Barry RFC Youth 43
BARRY YOUTH made it three victories from three starts, running in seven tries at Sardis Road, and moving eight points clear at the top of the division.
“Top of the league and unbeaten in 2026 is a nice reward for the players’ hard work,” said head coach Peter O’Sullivan.
way to 18 points. Photo: Isha Patel.
The Bombers started the brighter, continuing their recent good form with a try inside the first 10 minutes following a blind side snipe from lively scrum half Morgan Beasley. Fly half Cameron Hughes (pictured), fresh from his exploits playing for Gloucester under-17s the week before, landed the first of his four conversions.
Pontypridd found it hard to get through a resolute Barry defence. Trying to get the ball wide in difficult conditions, proved costly, as inside centre and man-of-the-match George Strong intercepted on the halfway line and galloped in unopposed for the first of his two tries.
Hughes then showed some nice footwork as he danced his way past two defenders for the first of his two tries, and Barry were looking comfortable at 21-0. However, Pontypridd were not going to throw in the towel and battled their way upfield to score.
Despite Barry appearing to go off the boil a little bit, Strong powered his way over for his second try, but Ponty immediately replied, some good work by their forwards making the interval score 12-28. Ponty started the second half stronger, their third try cutting the deficit to 11 points.
Barry, looking nervous, made a couple of substitutions and, after some stern words from forwards coach James Hadfield, the players responded. First captain Rhys Behrens forced his way over to regain the 16-point advantage. This was followed by Hughes’ second score, a superb team try, with some particularly good handling that put a big smile on backs coach Rhodri Thomas’ face.
Barry made more changes in the closing stages but kept the momentum up and had the last word with left wing Austin Cafferey diving in at the corner.
“Today wasn’t perfect,” said O’Sullivan. “We started and finished well but need to work on keeping the intensity up for the full 70 minutes because we went off the boil either side of half-time and it could have cost us.”
*Barry RFC host a double header on Saturday, with both the First and Youth teams in action at the Reservoir Field. The Youth team’s Cardiff Rugby Two match against Llandaff kicks off at 1.30pm, with the First team’s Admiral National League One East Central fixture against St Albans kicking off one hour later.
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