Barry RFC set sights on the Cardiff Under-14 Bowl at Cardiff Arms Park

Resilience and excellent discipline helped Barry’s Under-14s take the honours in a recent six-team tournament in Devon, and now they have their sights firmly set on a bigger prize, the Cardiff Under-14 Bowl, when they take on St Peter’s at the Arms Park on May 8.

Resilience and excellent discipline helped Barry’s Under-14s take the honours in a recent six-team tournament in Devon, and now they have their sights firmly set on a bigger prize, the Cardiff Under-14 Bowl, when they take on St Peter’s at the Arms Park on May 8.

That resilience paid off in dramatic fashion in the Bowl semi-final, where they trailed Llantrisant 21-0 at the interval. But they battled back to score 28 unanswered points in the second half to book their place in the final.

Head coach and former player Joe McCann, who has been with the team since the players were seven years old, said the 2024-25 season had been tough, but “this season we’ve had some new players, some who have played before, some who haven’t, but they’ve adapted.

“The group just seemed to click from late November time. We had a good pre-season, building fitness on sand dunes and beaches, which brought us together quite a lot.”

Good discipline paid off in the Devon tournament. “We lost one game and finished second in the table. How it transpired for us to be the tournament champions was based both on where you finished in the table and on discipline.

“The referees marked how the games went, out of five. And every game we played we had fives, so that’s how we won that tournament. The players deserved it. They have been rewarded for their discipline. It has been absolute pleasure to coach this group,” said McCann, who intends to continue coaching the players at Under-15 and Under-16 level. We will take them all the way up to Youth, and then see where we go. 

“They have been a very disciplined team over the last few years. That is something we speak to them about. We have sessions on discipline, not just in rugby, but also in life. It’s not often we have to speak to them about chatter, which is good. After last week’s game the referee said how good and polite they were.”

The Bowl Final, on Friday May 8, kicks off at 5.30pm