MINEHEAD went down 35-32 away to Clevedon in Counties Two Somerset in a ‘game of two halves, as the Barbarians stormed back from a disappointing first half, to be within seconds of winning a hard fought match.

It did not help Minehead that they had not played for a month, leaving the players off the pace in the first half. The home side had a simple but effective strateg; use their heavy pack to drive mauls, and carry hard into the Barbarian defence. The tactic worked, with the home side scoring twice before the Barbarians got onto the scoreboard.

Minehead did eventually strike back, a powerful carry by Willes set up the position, and Lynch kicked deep into the home 22. The ball was won at the lineout by Buckingham and fired out to Lynch who fed Hole on the burst, and his arcing run took him in for a converted try. Soon after Lynch added a penalty goal to narrow the gap.

Two further forward based tries by Clevedon stretched their lead again, and at the break it was 28 – 10, and looking very difficult for the Barbarians.

This Minehead side are nothing if not resilient, and knew that if they could get good ball then they could match anyone. Fight they did, forcing the home side back and winning a penalty which Lynch converted. Martins and Winter came on to freshen up the pack, and unfortunately Lynch took a knock to his shoulder and was replaced by Wilcox.

Minehead gained a try when Day kicked long, Martins chased hard and as pressure mounted, Hawker dived in to score and convert. Day was next to score, after Willes won the lineout, Senior made ground through the midfield, before Day just reached the line when tackled.

The Barbarians final try was a joy, fast lineout ball is moved out, Wilcocks passes behind the centres to Chinn who had come from his wing to burst through midfield, and raced away to the line. This try gave the Barbarians the lead, and they had played some sparkling rugby to get there, but Clevedon were not finished.

A tense series of forward drives mounted siege to the Minehead line as the clock wound down. When the home team crossed the line to score there was only time for the final whistle.

Outplayed they may have been in the forwards, but the efforts of the Minehead pack were appreciated by their teammates, and together they produced a dramatic finale which gave them two points, if not the five they would have wished for.

It was impossible to give an individual Man of Match, and so the award was to the whole team for the effort and enterprise in their second half fightback.