Touch rugby bronze for Barry brothers

Tuesday, 12 August 2025 11:45

By Ken Watkins

Flying the flag for Wales, Isaac (left) and Sam Thomas. Pics: Ruth Thomas.

Isaac and Sam Thomas won bronze medals playing for the Wales U18s team in the Atlantic Youth Touch Rugby Cup at Limerick.

The tournament, played over three days at the University of Limerick, saw Wales finish third in a round robin group, narrowly beaten in the semi-final where Wales had a number of tries disallowed, but enjoying a comfortable win over the hosts in the Bronze Medal play-off.

Both Issac and Sam are members of Barry RFC's youth squad - with Issac, in his last season at under-18 level, plaiying in all eight matches, and Sam featuring in six games.

Both were among the try scorers, with Sam having a handful disallowed, only to be credited with one after the tournament.

The brothers travelled to Ireland with the team on the Wednesday prior to the competition, and took part in the opening ceremony the next day, involving 45 teams from 12 countries, with matches starting on the Friday.

Wales won their group games against Portugal (16-1), Ukraine (13-2) and Ireland (8-1), but were beaten by eventual tournament winners England (13-4) and France (7-2) with the latter pair going through to the semi-finals.

Wales then swept Portugal aside 24-0 in a qualifying final, which saw them up against France in the semi-final. Five disallowed tries meant an 8-4 defeat, and the Bronze Medal play-off against Ireland, which was won comfortably 13-6.

Isaac, who plays on the wing, is in his final season with Barry’s youth squad, while Sam, a second row forward who took up playing touch rugby after lengthy persuasion from Isaac, will be in his first season at youth level at the club. 

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