Barry's tough start to the Admiral League season continued with a 29-12 defeat at Llanishen.
This game was effectively settled in the first quarter when Llanishen took advantage of Barry’s hesitant start to score all their points.
The Bombers were much the better side for the last hour, but this was another harsh lesson about life in Division One.
Head coach Mike Morgan felt that, with Barry possibly suffering from a hangover after the opening day heavy defeat at the hands of Penarth, the Bombers “took a bit of nervousness and hesitancy” into Saturday’s game.
“At this level, if you are not switched on from the off, and start making mistakes, other teams will punish you. We stood off Llanishen, who were very sharp, and as soon as they got behind the defensive line, they were good enough to finish it off."
“But when the boys got a bit of a rocket behind the posts after the last try, we switched on defensively, and the tenacity and fortitude of the boys got them back into the game. Belief started seeping into the side and they showed character and real spirit.”
Barry’s scrum began to dominate the breakdown, and turned over a large amount of ball. This allowed the threes to try out some new moves that have been worked on in training, and they went well.
“It was a good game to watch,” said Morgan, “after the bitterly disappointing first 20 minutes, but the other 60 showed what we can do both defensively and offensively. There are loads of positives we can take from that.”
As Morgan has stressed previously, as Barry work through a team rebuilding process, there are a number of young players in the first team squad, who are “learning on the job, and in big pressure games if you get caught napping, you get punished. But they are learning fast.”
Barry’s points came from tries by Jack Long and Alyn Evans, with Owen Rees converting one.
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Elsewhere in the Vale, Penarth are the early leaders in Division One East Central. The newly promoted Bears made it back-to-back wins following a 47-24 victory over Abercwmboi at the Athletic Ground.
Cowbridge continued their unbeaten start in Division Two with a 20-10 win at Ynysybwl, while Llantwit Major slipped to their first defeat in Division Three - and their first league defeat in over a year - after going down 10-3 at Tonyrefail.
In Division Four, Dinas Powys lost 36-24 at Pontyclun and Old Penarthians picked up their first win in Division Five, beating Llandrindod Wells 36-20 at home.
Next Saturday sees Barry host Rhydyfelin while Penarth travel to Llanharan in Division One. Cowbridge make the short trip to Taffs Well in Division Two, while Llantwit Major entertain Canton in Division Three, Dinas Powys are at home to Brackla in Division Four and Old Penarthians take on Tref y Clawdd in Division Five.
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