07/09/2026
Report by Ken Watkins
Cardiff South Division 2
Llandaff 26 Barry Youth 28
Barry, having practised scrummaging all week, were denied the opportunity to show off their new-found skills. With Llandaff concerned their props were not fully match ready, this game was played with uncontested scrums.
Former Tonga international and Cardiff prop Fa’ao Falise put Barry’s forwards through their paces in midweek training, and was at the match to observe the results. Fortunately for the Bombers he is aiming to watch Barry again on Saturday when Cowbridge are the visitors, before having another midweek scrummaging session.
The match was switched from Llandaff at their request, giving Barry three home games as Cardiff Quins will be the visitors the week after Cowbridge. Head coach Peter O’Sullivan, expecting three tough games, was happy with a winning start, and five points, although some aspects of the game gave him cause for concern.
“We looked really good first ten minutes, scored two lovely backs tries, everything that we’d practised,” he said. “We were 14-0 up and coasting, and then got a bit individual, tried to be a bit too clever and that forced a few mistakes. On the back of that we got undisciplined, made it hard for ourselves, and gave them the chance to come back in, and they did come back in.”
Barry scored four quality tries, were always in the lead, going in 21-7 up at the interval, and their handling and attacking play was at times excellent. But the lack of discipline, as they were frequently caught offside, gave Llandaff opportunities which they were not slow to take.
All four of their scores, three in the second half, followed penalties. Two yellow cards for Barry in the dying minutes allowed Llandaff to close the gap to two points, but the Bombers hung on. Crucially, Marley Paines-Lang converted all Barry’s tries. Llandaff landed three difficult conversions but missed one. “We got out of jail in the first game of the season,” said O’Sullivan. “But I’ll take it. It’s a win, five points.”
Barry’s pre-season had been difficult. “We were hoping to have two pre-season games. One, against Brynmawr, was cancelled because the pitch was too hard, which has been the case for most teams across the summer.
“We managed to get one, at Nantyfyllon. A worthwhile exercise. We won 19-7, but it wasn’t about the result. All the boys got on, lots of rotation, and we tried people in new positions. There was an even split, 11 first year players, 11 second. The new boys who came in did well.
“But no more excuses about pre-season, hard pitches and stuff. It feels like there’s a really good team in there when they click, and if they keep playing to the patterns we’ll take teams apart, as we did in the first 10, 15 minutes today,” he said. “If we can put 40, 50, 60 minutes together like we did in the first then we’ll put teams away.”
Barry: tries - Colm Edwards (2 minutes), George Strong (8), Finley Burrows (27), Cam Hughes (47).
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