Barry RFC

04/02/2025

03/02/2025

WRU National Youth Plate quarter-final
Cowbridge 17 Barry Youth RFC 22
Barry held off a late second-half fightback by their hosts in this Vale derby to clinch a semi-final place, the second time in three years the club’s Youth team has made the last four of a national competition.
Cowbridge had started strongly. “For the first 15 minutes we were under the cosh,” said head coach John Dimond, “but we took everything they could throw at us. We had a window then of about 20 minutes where we dominated.”
Barry scored all their points in that window and went in 22-3 ahead at the interval. “We knew they’d come back at us some time,” said Dimond, “but we had a good lead. We defended really solidly, but it was a squeaky last five minutes.”
The penalty count against Barry was high, and the second half ran around 11 minutes longer than anticipated. With Cowbridge, “a big physical side who love the contact”, putting the pressure on, Barry had to work hard to secure the victory.
“Fair play to Cowbridge, they came to play and gave us a good test,” said Dimond, “and fair play to our boys. One or two silly little mistakes which allowed Cowbridge into our 22, but they gave everything, and keep finding little ways of getting out of trouble.”
Barry are the last East Wales team left in the competition. The others are all from West Wales - Gorseinon, who beat St Peter’s 41-10, Crymych, 28-7 winners at Caerleon, and Haverfordwest, who drew 15-15 at Trebanos, but went through as the away team. The semi-finals will be played on neutral grounds, draw, date and venues yet to be announced.
Once the draw is made Dimond will arrange a couple of friendlies, but will not fix a match for the weekend prior to the semi-final. “The players can get over all their knocks and scrapes. I want to go into it with a fully fit squad, the best possible squad.
“After that it will be back to league action, but at the moment the Plate is my focus,” said Dimond. “There are four teams of high quality in the semi-finals. We will have to bring our best game to that match.”
Barry: tries - Morgan Prosser 2, Rauley Hunter; conv – Prosser 2; pen – Prosser.

03/02/2025

Report by Ken Watkins

Admiral National League Division 1 East Central
Barry RFC 31 Abercwmboi 34
A late, late penalty left Barry frustrated, and Abercwmboi last-gasp winners, just as they had been when the sides met at Aberaman Park earlier in the season. The scores were level when the clock went into the red, and a lack of discipline in the closing minutes was to prove costly.
Barry had taken the lead, for the first time in the match, five minutes from the end. Ahead 31-26, the Bombers needed to focus on keeping possession and running the clock down. Instead, as coach Marc Devine said afterwards, it was a case of “misplaced passes and a poor throw in”, and Abercwmboi took advantage.
The visitors levelled the scores with a try in the last minute, the conversion from out wide was off target, and there were sighs of relief all round, only for hopes to be dashed as that late penalty pinched victory for the visitors at the death.
Penalties certainly proved costly, with Barry conceding more than their visitors, although the reasons were not always clearly indicated. The Bombers scored five tries to Abercwmboi’s four, but Aaron Bolitho’s four penalties proved the crucial difference.
“We threw it away, didn’t we,” said Devine. “Everything we spoke about before the game –play the phases, stick to the game plan, don’t let it go to your heads – but after our fifth try we needed to settle, keep possession.”
That final try, a tap and go eventually finished off by Alyn Evans, he felt showed signs of Barry’s growing maturity as they “just went through the phases”.
The defeat, he said, was “disappointing, but the positive is that it’s a young side, and they will learn from this. These are the type of games that, a year down the line, when we are at the same place, in January up in Abercynon or wherever, are the ones we are going to win.”
Victor Corrihons scored tries in the 25th and last minute of the first half, the first after pressure following a catch and drive, the second set up by Jake Williams, Corrihons finishing with a strong swerving run. Jack Davies converted the latter, and the 33rd minute try from Dafydd Jones, set up by a catch and drive.
Evan Prosser got the bonus point try in the 62nd minute, finishing off a breakaway after Abercwmboi lost possession deep in Barry’s 22, Davies converting to close the deficit to 22-24.
But the visitors scored at regular intervals, and with Barry down to 14 for the dying minutes, that five-point lead after their fifth try was, almost predictably, not enough.
Abercwmboi: tries – Aled Morgan (16 minutes), Owen Jenkins (21, 41, 79); conv – Aaron Bolitho 1 (21); pen – Bolitho 4 (30, 50, 55, 80).

02/02/2025

📸 Youth Cup. Cowbridge, 1st February 2025.

Pictures from the Youth’s 17-22 Cup quarter final win against Cowbridge💣

02/02/2025

📸 Abercwmboi, 1st February 2025.

Pictures from our narrow 31-34 defeat against Abercwmboi on Saturday💣

30/01/2025

The Bombers are at home Saturday, come and support them! 2:30 KO💣💣

28/01/2025

Friendly
Barry RFC Youth 20 Fairwater 7

Barry’s final warm up match before their WRU National Youth Plate quarter-final at Cowbridge on Saturday proved a much sterner test than the game against St Albans a week earlier, which was exactly what head coach John Dimond wanted.
Dimond, in his final season as Youth team coach, said the decision to go for a tougher fixture had been “a roll of the dice, but we haven’t picked up any injuries. Fairwater were physical up front, and they had us under the cosh at times.”
The match was also a chance to make a few changes from the previous week. “I saw a few other players on Saturday, and some of the fringe players were given a chance,” he said. “We want our best players out there at Cowbridge, players who can perform. A couple of players are coming back, and I’ve got the nucleus of a starting line-up in mind.”
Although he was happy with the performance of the forwards, who “put in a massive shift”, he felt some wrong decision-making meant the margin of victory was smaller than it might have been.
“We had little periods where we thought we could run into collisions, which is not really how we play. Once we started to play out wide we really opened them up in the backline. The positive is that, once they get told, they find a way out of the problems.”
The Cowbridge match, which kicks off at midday, is “cup rugby, and points don’t matter as long as we come away with more than them. Reaching the semi-final would be great for the boys, an achievement.”
Dimond, who will not be coaching at the club next season, led his Youth team to a WRU National Youth Cup semi-final two years ago, and hopes to go one better this time. Success at Cowbridge would leave the team one step closer to a Principality Stadium final, which would be a fitting sign off.
Barry: tries - Morgan Prosser, Morgan Beasley; conv - Morgan Prosser 2; penalty - Morgan Prosser 2.

28/01/2025

Join us this Friday for the start of the 6 Nations!

All games shown live, with all Wales games shown on our large projector screen!

Keep an eye on our socials for details of entertainment coming up on six nations days!

Everyone welcome 😀

27/01/2025

Report by Ken Watkins

Admiral National League Division 1 East Central
Barry RFC 17 Porth Harlequins 3
With both teams fighting for survival this was, perhaps predictably, a scrappy game at times. But with other results going their way, a third victory on the bounce has lifted Barry and proved that winning ugly is sometimes all that matters.
Barry have moved above Llanishen on games won, and opened the gap between the Bombers and struggling Rhiwbina to 15 points, both having six matches left. Porth, having lost all 12 matches, are marooned at the bottom on five points.
Barry may not be mathematically safe just yet, but following up victory at Rhiwbina the previous week with this hard-fought success against Porth, leaves them looking a lot less apprehensively over their shoulders. But the season’s not over yet.
The first half was tight and error-strewn. “The players are so committed to not making mistakes that they make more mistakes instead of relaxing and getting into the game,” said head coach Mike Morgan. “Sometimes it’s difficult to find your groove, and in the first half we couldn’t.”
While Barry’s scrum was rarely troubled throughout, and gradually became more dominant, the lineout stuttered in the first half. “There were too many mistakes in the lineout,” said Morgan, “and uncharacteristically we were losing lineout ball, causing us to go backwards too much.
“In the second half the boys knew what they had to do. It was still a little bit tense, but the lineout started working, and we were keeping the ball well on their line. We kept knocking on the door.”
Cavan Slade gave Porth the lead with a penalty in the third minute, and much of the first half was, in Morgan’s view “a bit of a dogfight”, but towards the end Barry began to get on top, pressure and good phases being rewarded in the last minute of the half when Evan Prosser went over, Jack Davies converting.
Rhys Powell extended the lead with a 56th minute try as more pressure paid off. Barry squandered the chance of points when Porth gave away a string of penalties in and near the red zone, before nerves were finally calmed when a good handling move saw Jack Davies get the third try two minutes from time.
“In the huddle at the end you could have heard a pin drop,” said Morgan. “We were disappointed, but we won. We haven’t been in that space for a long time.”
There was, he said a lot of disappointment there in individual performances, “but that’s what I want as a coach, players coming away thinking ‘I could have and should have done better’. The players will have gone away thinking ‘that’s not going to happen again, I’m not going to have another day like that’.”
Barry host Abercwmboi on Saturday, and will be looking to extend the winning run as they seek to avenge the 22-21 last-gasp defeat in November.
Prior to the Porth match a minute’s silence was held in memory of Peter Oxenham, who played in the second row for Barry in the 1950s and 1960s, and was always a staunch supporter of the club.

27/01/2025

Barry steered ever closer to Admiral League safety following a 17-3 win over lowly Porth Harlequins in Division One East Central.

26/01/2025

Barry RFC is hiring!! 💣💣

Casual bar staff required to cover a variety of evening and weekends, competitive rates of pay.

No previous experience, full training provided, applicants need to be 18+ due to licensing laws.

Please enquire to our club secretary, Jo Evans:
[email protected]

(Previous applicants should not reapply)

26/01/2025

📸 Youth - Fairwater, 25th January 2025.

Pictures from the Youth’s 20-7 win against Fairwater Youth on Saturday💣

26/01/2025

26/01/2025

📸 Porth Harlequins, 25th January 2025.

Pictures from our 17-3 win against Porth Harlequins on Saturday💣

24/01/2025

It is with much sadness and respect that the club announces the passing of former player and club stalwart, Mr Peter Oxenham.

Peter's late wife Christine was also a staunch supporter of Barry RFC , who back in the day could often be heard voicing her support from the touchline whilst Peter watched on with what can best be described as a face of despair as he very quietly side stepped away out of ear shot. It may come as no surprise to those of us who hold such treasured memories of Peter that his son David, another former player at the club, in more recent years picked up where his Mum left off with his own brand of vocal support from pitch side.

Peter played for the club back in the late 50's and 60's in the second row. He played on those occasions when he was not at sea where he worked as a Chief Engineer, hence he was no stranger to the "Engine room" Peter was also followed into the engine room by his son John, who also played for the club.

Peter will be sadly missed by David, John and their respective families. He was a cherished supporter of the club and his presence has already been missed over recent times whilst he has been unwell.
On Saturday we hope his spirit will be with us when we pay tribute to him with a minutes silence before our home fixture with Porth RFC.
The club sends its sincere condolences to John, David, the family and all his close friends

God Bless you Peter

24/01/2025

📣 Team announcement.

Your bombers to face Porth Harlequins on the Reservoir Fields. Saturday 25th January 2024, 14:30 kick off.

Get down and support the boys for our first home game since November!💣