Barbarians v Frampton Cotterell
The first challenge of the county cup this season saw the Barbarians pitted against a committed Framton Cotterell team who were fielding a number of very substantial citizens indeed!
An early onslaught in the first half saw the 16 strong Barbarians squad concede a number of tries before rallying and provide sterner defence in the run up to half time. Heroic tacking prevented more tries being conceded and it was noticeable, not surprisingly, that the lower the tacking the less the larger opposition players were able to exploit their size advantage. That said, the considerable weight disadvantage in the scrum told throughout the game.
In the first period of the second half FC re-established their dominance taking the score to over 50 points to nil. With around 10 minutes to play a passage of flowing play showed just what the Barbarians are capable of when the whole team were involved in a flowing move with several phases of play where the ball was quickly recycled from rucks before a well judged kick ahead was touched down in the corner. Thereafter, despite considerable pressure, few further points were conceded and it was good to see that the team continued to function well as a unit to the final minute of the game. A heavy defeat for sure but with positives to build on.
The passage of play that lead to the well-earned try is shown in the first photo.
