Admiral National League Division 1 East Central: St Joseph’s 32 Barry RFC 15

A much improved performance at Maes Y Coed Road on Saturday saw Barry double their try tally for the season, but early and late scores couldn’t save them from a fourth straight defeat, St Joseph’s taking advantage of mistakes, writes Ken Watkins.

The first half proved frustrating, with Barry’s pack having difficulty against a more streetwise home eight. But unforced errors, mainly in the lineout, also put them under pressure, something they largely cut out in the second half.

“We have to tighten up,” said head coach Mike Morgan. “At this level mistakes cost points, so we have to minimise mistakes. It’s fine margins. Too many mistakes in the lineout cost us, and probably two St Joseph’s tries wouldn’t have happened but for those errors. We have to sharpen up in certain areas.”

Questionable official decisions put Barry on the back foot in the first half. St Joes’ driving scrums claimed two tries, and they had the bonus of a third, a penalty try, five minutes into the second half after a catch and drive was halted.

Barry had started well, Rhys Powell giving them the lead after eight minutes, bursting through a couple of tackles to round off early pressure. “We asked them to start well,” said Morgan, “and you can’t start better than that.”

But as decisions went against them, together with self-inflicted lineout problems, it needed a dogged defensive display to restrict St Joes to a 10-5 interval lead.

Despite a far more effective Barry lineout in the second half, St Joes managed to add a fourth try following a fortuitous bounce, and a fifth from a driving lineout, the one time Barry weren’t able to stop it. “At all other times our pack did a great job on that,” said Morgan.

“I did like what we did well. We stuck to the game plan, carried really well, supported really well. And our defence was generally good. There was much more togetherness on the park, and that’s down to consistency in training, consistency in the team we are putting out.”

Unfortunately, Barry’s second half improvement only paid off late on, Aled Rees taking a quick tap in the 70th minute and darting through for Barry’s second try, and Alyn Evans driving over in the 77th, quick hands setting up the opening. But the last word went to St Joes, a penalty with the clock in the red, increasing the margin of defeat.

St Joseph’s: tries Olly Young (28, 68), Will Meades (21), Iwan Dawes (56), penalty try (45); conv – Dawes; pen – Dawes.

*Joe Gatt suffered an ankle injury ten minutes into the second half, and was taken to hospital. He will be having physio on the sprained ankle, which will sideline him for an indefinite period.

*Barry host Rhiwbina in a league fixture on Saturday, with the Youth team hosting Treorchy in a Regional League fixture, both at 2.30pm.