Sport: Streetwise Porth XV give Barry a lesson

Barry RFC 14 Porth Harlequins 62:

BARRY were once again forced to field a makeshift side because of injuries and unavailability, so Porth took advantage to score 10 tries as the Bombers slumped to their eighth consecutive defeat in their final home league match of the season.

Four changes in the pack left Barry struggling, and they were rarely able to set a platform for the backs as Quins all too often drove them backwards. Unfamiliar combinations in the lineout also handed the initiative to the visitors, forward pressure accounting for five of their tries.

The game was even for the first half-hour, Barry scoring an excellent try in the 27th minute to pull the score back to 12-7, only for Porth to grab a couple more tries before the interval for a 24-7 lead.

An early score in the second half was crucial to keep the game alive, but two tries in two minutes from Porth took the game away from the Bombers. Porth added another three tries before Barry responded, again with a quality try.

“We’ve got to be a bit smarter and more streetwise,” said head coach Liam Scott. “Porth exploited our inexperience and defensive positioning. But credit to the guys. They stuck at it to score a good try right towards the death.”

Porth, he said, told him they had put out their “strongest side of the season and I think it showed. There were some very experienced boys out there, and very physical. They teetered on the edge of the law but got away with it.”

Barry face Porth again on Saturday in a rearranged match. “Hopefully, with different interpretations of the law it may just level the game a bit,” said Scott. The Bombers’ final fixture is at Mountain Ash on Tuesday, another tough test.

Barry were denied a try in the 25th minute, Porth getting a yellow card for a deliberate knock on, but from the resulting penalty Barry moved the ball quickly, Daf Jones setting up Aled Rees to cut through the defence, Owen Rees converting.

Their second try, in the 73rd minute, followed a quick handling move rounded off by the unmarked Will Odgers, who scored behind the posts, Owen Rees again converting. It was no consolation as the game was long gone before then.

By Ken Watkins

Photo: Judith Dutton.

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