MINEHEAD Barbarians provided one of their best displays of the season to beat Chew Valley 55-12 at home in Counties Two Somerset, writes Bryan Stevens.

It was not so much because of the score-line, but more because the team raised their game significantly after a poor start, and committed themselves to the style of play that they do best.

This was a much changed Chew team from the one the Barbarians had faced away, and they started with real dynamism, stretching the home side with some slick ball handling. The visitors dominated the early play, and soon found themselves with a lineout close to the Minehead line. A clean catch and drive saw the Chew Valley pack force their way over to score.

The Barbarians hit back quickly. An attacking lineout gave White the chance to carry hard to the line; he was stopped inches short, then a long pass from Milton found Beaver who drove over for a converted try.

Chew came back again strongly; they moved the ball smoothly down the slope, a dummy runner took out two Minehead defenders and gave the Chew winger a run to the line which was well converted. Minehead now had to draw on their inner steel to come back from this score. Experienced players Willes, Edwards, and Milton pulled the team together, and the side showed an attitude that inspired a great performance.

The Barbarians now tackled, and drove forward with passion, and started to handle the ball with confidence. Chinn found a gap, he shot through and beat the full-back to score. This inspired play grew, the Barbarians kept the ball alive and moving. Milton controlled from scrum-half and worked the blind side, eventually Day found space and raced into the corner. Then Chinn added his second; he broke along the lower side, cut up the hill, and burst through. He was tackled just short, but not held, so dived to score.

The Barbarians added another three points when Chew gave away a penalty in front of their posts.

For a short period Chew Valley lost focus and some silly penalties and yellow cards hurt them.

The Barbarians’ final points of the half came from Nunn who hit a short pass at pace to break through and score under the posts.

At the break Coleman took over from Hollingsworth and added even more power to the scrum, while Buckingham replaced Day.

The second half started with a period of even play, neither side making much progress. Then Minehead got back into their stride running out of defence and off-loading to keep the ball alive. A penalty was won near the posts, and Milton tapped quickly and darted in to score.

Then Chinn completed his hat-trick. From a poor clearance, Lock countered, then Willes carried hard, the ball moved smoothly down to Chinn and he was unstoppable.

The final try came when Buckingham sold a dummy and broke through; he slipped the ball to Senior who ran the 60 metres to score, handing off two defenders.

A fine performance from the Barbarians, and one that needed real grit and determination after a rocky first ten minutes. The commitment to defence was a feature of the day.

Nunn excelled in both attack and defence, but the Player of the Day was Josh Ruddenklau, who was outstanding for the Barbarians.