ON A bright winter day at the Reservoir Field, and with an early KO due to Wales v S Africa, Barry Youth took on local rivals Cowbridge with both teams aiming to be top of the league at Christmas.
Unfortunately, Cowbridge opted for uncontested scrums before kick off, with one of their props pulling up in the warm up.
With Barry playing down the slope in the first half, they pushed for an early score but were repelled a few times by a well-organised Cowbridge defence. However, following a penalty for back chat, Barry No 10 Cam Hughes was able to push his forwards deep into the Cowbridge 22 and a well set up lineout drive saw the Barry pack get over the line, with hooker and captain Rhys Berhens the last man up with the ball. Hughes’ conversion from the touchline made the score 7-0 and that’s the way it stayed until the break.
Barry’s defence had been outstanding in the first half but was suddenly guilty of a few missed tackles at the start of the second half which allowed Cowbridge through to level the scores.
To Barry’s credit, they struck back through a well-executed backs move, with fullback Austin Cafferey rounding off a slick handling move, again converted from the touchline by Hughes to take the score to 14-7.
In a tight contest, Barry opted for the posts from another penalty to try and take them two scores clear but, agonisingly, it came back off the post and Cowbridge were able to clear.
Cowbridge scored next but the conversion also came back off the post to make it 14-12 with 10 minutes to go.
For the remainder of the game, Cowbridge were camped on the Barry line but heroic defence kept them out time and time again, typified by man of the match Morgan Beasley. But with less than a minute remaining, a clearing kick was charged down and a favourable bounce allowed the Cowbridge second row to pounce for the winning score.
Final score – Barry Youth 14-17 Cowbridge Youth.
Head coach Peter O’Sullivan said: “We were frustrated before the game with uncontested scrums going against us, as has happened numerous times this season. The players were gutted after the game to lose in that fashion, but they can be genuinely proud of the effort that they all put in. Both sides gave everything and the result could have gone either way.”
P O’S
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