Barry RFC's head coach was critical of his players following a 20-12 defeat at home to Rhyfydelin in the Admiral League.
Mike Morgan pulled no coaches as he reflected on a game that the Bombers might have been expected to win, when instead, they effectively handed a first victory of the season - and five match points - to the side propping up the Division One East Central table.
"No excuses. We were poor.", he said.
Following excellent performances in back-to-back wins, the visit of Rhydyfelin to the Reservoir Field should have been an opportunity to widen the gap over the teams below the Bombers. Instead, the hosts find themselves 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 understandably 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."
“At senior level, you need to stick to the game plan. Today was a great opportunity, if we had won, to pull away and keep the teams down the bottom there. We are now near the bottom of the league and in a dogfight for the rest of the season.”
Rhys Forse had given Barry an eighth-minute lead following a scrum and pressure on the Rhydyfelin line with 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, Barry never really looked like scoring afterwards as their game gradually deteriorated, and Rhydyfelin duly took advantage, scoring through Mark Tyler just before half time, Luke Riley on 47 minutes, 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.
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