A TEN-TRY victory for Minehead Barbarians saw them move up to fourth place with a 62-10 home win in Counties Two Somerset yesterday (St).

While Yatton have struggled this year, Minehead were missing the experience of Swann, Cox, and Claydon. There was a notable debut for Ben Dunton who gave his all in the second row, while Ben Mouzouri enhanced his growing reputation within the squad.

Minehead moved the ball constantly, stretching their visitors defence. Strong carries from Willes and White built pressure, and when the ball was moved up the hill Nunn powered through, offloading to Chinn for the score. The Barbarians were raising the pace of play, a tap penalty almost brought a forwards' try, then a counter-attack saw Gunter make a great break to the line, feeding Buckingham who collected the try. The new centre pairing of Senior and Nunn worked well, with both showing some fine touches.

Prop Jack White was next on the scoresheet. Multiple drives from the forwards sucked in the defence and then White forced his way through to the line. Another sharp break from Gunter helped set up a try for Senior, who scythed through the Yatton defence.

The visitors did not give up and a driven lineout took them to the line, pick and drives kept the pressure up until a final effort saw them cross to score.

Luke Milton was a welcome returnee, having missed some weeks, and he was his composed self as he helped the team. Milton also gained a try as he ran a clever line supporting a break by Senior, taking the ball 30metres to score. Milton also contributed six conversions for the team.

After the break, the Barbarians scored within seconds. Ben Mouzouri, who had worked with enthusiasm, finished a move started by a burst from Day, to drive to the line. Minehead now were totally dominant with fine carries from Beaver, and Willes, while Roberts made an excellent turnover to rob Yatton. From the next phase of play White forced over the line for his second score.

The Barbarians' hard work at scrum time paid off as Yatton were driven off their own ball, Mouzouri grabbed the loose ball and fed Bullard who beat two tacklers for the try.

Day was not going to miss out, and finally scored. A lineout drive was held out by Yatton, as were a couple more drives, the defence was drawn in, and Day raced into the corner.

The evergreen Maddock scored Minehead’s final try. As the young Yatton team tried to run the ball out from their line, Maddock intercepted a pass and ran in to score.

It is to Yatton’s credit that their young team kept going, and they finally gained another try. George Buckingham had gone down with a leg injury and the game was stopped for a period. The restart was a penalty to Yatton, and they caught Minehead by surprise. A big cross-kick allowed their left wing to sprint into the corner for a deserved try.

Ben Mouzouri was an outstanding Man of Match.

Bryan Stevens