THE President’s Day lunch, hosted by Colin Howells was the prelude to a remarkable game, as Minehead Barbarians came back from 22 points down to beat visitors Rebels (Taunton) 45-36.

With 13 tries scored, the big crowd were kept excited and entertained, with the result in doubt until the last minute.

The Barbarians started at a pace and scored early, after counter-attacking from clearance kicks. A quick ruck gave Lynch room to drive a kick deep towards the visitors’ line, another clearance saw Chinn race forward, allowing Martins to crash over for the try which Lynch converted.

The pace of the game became frantic, with neither side establishing control, but Rebels gradually forced their way to the Minehead 22. Another penalty gave them a lineout close to the tryline, a catch and drive took them over for the score.

The Barbarians continued to attack, and another Chinn burst was stopped by a high tackle, which earned the tackler a yellow.

The next lineout saw the ball come out to Bullard who stormed forward to the line and claimed the try.

Rebels immediately came back, a mistake on the Barbarians catch gave a scrum to Rebels who worked the ball wide where the centre crossed to score.

The Rebels managed to exert pressure in mid-field which slowed the home side’s expansive game. Rebels gained reward when a forward spotted a gap behind the ruck and broke through to score. The visitors extended their lead further when their wing cut inside and threw a pass back outside to the centre who crossed.

Some strong carrying by Webber, Cox, and Willes lifted the team, however it was the Rebels who scored first in the second half when their full-back broke free to give the scoring pass.

The visitors extended their lead with another try from a powerful burst through the centre, and many thought that the Barbarians were beaten.

However, the Minehead players would not give up in front of their home crowd, and produced a dominant scrum to win a penalty. The hugely experienced Winter came on, and would later have a vital role for his team.

Finally the Barbarians got themselves back on the scoreboard. From a scrum Lynch delayed his pass and Chinn hit a line, breaking clean through, Day took the pass, and he found Fritz who finished brilliantly. Capped off by fine conversion.

The home scrum was now dominant, and a series of hard carries took the team to the line, as Rebels tried to move the ball back in a ruck, Hawker spotted the ball on the line and stretched over to touch it and score!

Another scrum penalty kept Minehead going forward and built pressure. Then a scything break by Lynch broke through and his pass gave Day the chance to score under the posts.

The impossible was starting to look possible for the Barbarians!

Then came the try of the match, off-loads by Martins, Fritz, Willes, Lynch, and Hawker who found Winter to dive over and score.

With only seconds left Minehead had gained the lead. Rebels tried to run the ball, but it was spilled, and Fritz took off and the Barbarian Flyer sprinted away to make the safe.

A never say die game team effort with many candidates, but Bruce Bullard was the Player of the Match.