Missed chance proved Barry's downfall against Caerphilly

Barry RFC travelled to face Caerphilly in the Admiral League Division 1 East Central.

Caerphilly 22 - Barry RFC 17

Missed chances in the first half proved Barry’s downfall. Although second-half tries from Barry’s front row – Chris Brooke, Alyn Evans and Youth captain Rhys Behrens on his senior debut – levelled the scores with three minutes left, Caerphilly hit back to steal a late, late victory.

Despite Barry dominating the first half territorially, Caerphilly led 14-0 at the interval. “We shouldn’t have been in that position,” said coach Matt Silva. “In the first 20 minutes we missed a try, missed a lineout, got turned over. When you consider Caerphilly got into our 22 twice in the first half, and that’s all they managed, but they scored twice.

“We got into their 22, and for me that’s the most frustrating part. Getting into the strike zone, the red area, and then just coughing the ball up too easily. We came back well in the second half, and that’s what makes it more frustrating.”

Barry had started positively, driving Caerphilly back, before that early pressure was briefly lifted in the 20th minute when the Castlemen scored following a debatable penalty. But 7-0 became 14-0 ten minutes later when another questionable penalty brought a second score.
So Barry were, once again, chasing a game. Brooke’s 57th minute try, following pressure on the line, closed the gap to 14-5, only for Caerphilly to land a penalty three minutes later. But Barry’s driving pack produced tries for Evans after 73 minutes, and Behrens after 78, the last converted by Owen Rees, to make it 17-17. Sadly the joy was shortlived.

“It’s the team errors, team mistakes that cost us. Back line too flat, over-running. How many times did we get the ball to the wings, which means we were playing funnel rugby in the middle when we should have been trying to run their centres round a little bit,” said Silva.

Caerphilly, by contrast, used the width of the very wide Mollex Stadium pitch more effectively, a policy which paid off with the late winning try.

“We’ve got two games left and we’ve got to get something out of them. We are still in the fight. We got a bonus point out of it.”

Silva praised Behrens, on in the second half. “Player development is a massive plus for us. He’s hooked against a very good front row. It’s a huge positive. But for these boys who are coming through Barry needs to be in Division 1. It’s our job to make sure we stay there and give these boys a decent standard of rugby to play in.”

And that job just got a little harder on Saturday with Cambrian Welfare, immediately below Barry and in the relegation places, closing the gap to nine points. Barry have two games left, Caerphilly (home) on March 21, and bottom club Rhydyfelin seven days later. Cambrian Welfare have seven to play.