Barry RFC miss chance against Rhydyfelin
Admiral National League Division One East Central - Barry RFC 12 Rhydyfelin 20
A GAME Barry might have expected to win instead ended in a bitterly disappointing defeat, with bottom-of the-table Rhydyfelin picking up their first victory of the season.
Head coach Mike Morgan pulled no punches as he reflected on the performance, saying: “No excuses. We were poor”
Barry’s two previous league outings had delivered victories and excellent performances, and the visit of Rhydyfelin should have been an opportunity to widen the gap over the teams below. Instead, the Bombers are in the all-too familiar position of recent seasons, in the bottom three.
After having looked the more likely in the first 20 minutes, Barry’s game dramatically and disappointingly fell away into an error-strewn display that saw the Bombers on the back foot for most of the last hour, and the visitors capitalised.
“We controlled the first 20 minutes, scored two tries, stuck to the game plan. We were dominant all round the park in the first quarter,” said Morgan. “It looked like a good day. And it could have been a good day for us. Then the whole team refused to stick to the game plan. It became messy, we couldn’t claw it back”.
Rhys Forse had given Barry an eighth-minute lead following a scrum and pressure on the Rhydyfelin line, Owen Rees converting. Rhydyfelin replied through Garreg Downes two minutes later after a clearance kick was charged down, but from the restart, Tiann Arthur rounded off a swift handling move to extend the lead.
Sadly, after that Barry never really looked like scoring as their game gradually deteriorated, and Rhydyfelin duly took advantage, scoring through Mark Tyler after 40 minutes, Luke Riley seven minutes into the second half, and Lewis Jones for the bonus point in the 61st minute.
Barry’s diminishing hopes of getting back in the game were not helped by Tiann Arthur and Josh Edwards getting sin-binned in the second half, and when a late, lengthy penalty by Morgan Prosser drifted just wide, they were denied even the consolation of a losing bonus point.
The Bombers face a tough challenge when they visit second-placed St Albans on Saturday for the final league fixture before the Autumn international break.
Ken Watkins
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