MINEHEAD Barbarians went down to an agonising 27-26 away defeat against St Bernadettes in Counties Two Somerset, the result in doubt well into stoppage time, writes Bryan Stevens.

The Barbarians were lacking a few of the powerful forwards that had been regulars last season, and this was a telling factor. The strong home pack kept Minehead under pressure and made quality ball a rare commodity for the Barbarians.

Despite this pressure there was no shortage of effort from Minehead, and the sharpness of their backs created three excellent tries in the first half.

Minehead took the lead after only three minutes, when Gower took a tap-penalty quickly to himself, and darted through to score.

The home side immediately built pressure, with their pack strength requiring a huge effort from the Barbarians’ forwards. The problem increased when prop Holness was forced off early with an injury, and Parsons came on. The Bernadettes forwards earned their success when, following a number of hard carries, the ball was released from a tap-penalty and a backrow forward scored.

Minehead fought back again, knowing that when they moved the ball wide they brought a threat. From a scrum, Milton moved the ball quickly blind, Fritz made the first break, Bullard carried next, slick handling found space and How raced through a gap, and left the defence trailing as he ran 50m to score. Lynch kicked the conversion.

Once again the home team piled on the pressure, but their backs could not turn that into points. Then the Barbarians showed once again the potency of their backline. Swann tidied up a lineout, the half-backs moved the ball allowing Gower to feed Fritz, and the wing raced through to score on his return to the club, Lynch converting.

The game continued until the break with St Bernadettes dominating possession and territory, but Minehead defending with great determination. The work rate of Buckingham, Bullard, and Lock was outstanding, while Webber impressed on his return to the team until suffering a hand injury.

Despite having a half-time lead, the Barbarians now faced a refreshed home side, and Bernadettes came back hard. A series of scrums close to the Barbarian line were defended, but then a good piece of handling put the home wing into the corner to score. Another score by Bernadettes from a strong carry by the forwards was converted to bring the scores even. It took and excellent cover tackle by the Barbarians’ centre to stop a score by the home left wing.

Then Bernadettes scored again, forcing over the line from close in to take the lead for the first time. The Barbarians could have collapsed at this point, but they managed to raise themselves, and fought their way back to place pressure on the home team.

The team broke away downfield and Day almost made it into the corner, but was forced into touch. Then skipper Bullard stole a vital lineout to set up a drive. His pack drove forward and Lock slipped off to dive over to score, with Lynch converting to regain the lead.

With only a couple of minutes remaining, the home side were able to kick a penalty to take a one-point lead. In stoppage time the Barbarians had a chance to steal the game with a long range penalty but it was unsuccessful. Minehead’s Player of the Day Ben Lock.