MINEHEAD Barbarians went down 44-7 at home to impressive league leaders Yatton on Saturday.
They got off to a bad start, losing Johan van Wyk to a yellow card within two minutes following a minor skirmish, and coupled with the absence of several key players who were unavailable due to the fixture having been re-arranged and player coach Dave Swann out sick, it was no surprise they leaked early tries.
Without acknowledged centres, Minehead had no answer to the direct running Yatton backs who showed why they are top of the table.
Within the first quarter they had crossed four times, having first released their left wing to go over in the corner then taken advantage of the lack of organisation in the home defence to burst through the centre for a converted try under the posts, followed by two tries from overlap situations, one of which was converted.
At 22-0 with the bonus point already assured, Yatton were in complete control and their classy running backs went on to add two more tries from overlap situations for a 32-0 lead at the interval.
On the re-start, they soon added a further converted try when a Minehead clearance was gathered by their talented young full back who carved a hole in the defence before releasing his left winger to finish under the posts.
The Barbarians then enjoyed their best period of the game, and when hooker Joe Barrett made a powerful burst up to the 22, the pack forced Yatton to concede three penalties before Leigh Parker forced his way over for a five pointer with Dave Farmer adding the extras.
To their credit, Minehead got to grips with their difficulties in midfield and restricted the visitors to only one further try.
Hopefully they will be able to select from a full squad for the visit of third-placed Bath side Stothert and Pitt tomorrow (Saturday), when the club and chairman Simon Hutchison will welcome all coaches, volunteers and supporters to a pre-match lunch.
Minehead Barbarians: D Farmer, C James , T Lamacraft, L Gould, F Bushell, C Sutherland, J Parker, P Hobbs, J Barrett, R Dellow, B Willes, L Parker, M Lynch, J van Wyk, R Maddock, C Thrush, M Holman.