Match Report

Sandal 10 vs 24 Barnsley (Friendly)

Barnsley came back from 10 nil down last Saturday to run out 24-10 winners against a well organised Sandal 2nd team. On a cold afternoon both sides played some excellent rugby but it was the Shaw Lane men that had the better fitness and this proved vital in the latter stages.

Barnsley were forced to make a few changes to the starting line up, with Chris Peel coming in at full back and Chris Beck being called on to the bench. This didn’t seem to unsettle the visitors and for the first few minutes both sides looked to recycle the ball well. It was Sandal though that got on the board first with an excellent team try, finished off by Thurlo wide out.

The game was then evenly matched for the remainder of the half but Sandal always looked a little more threatening when they moved the ball about. Indeed it was ex Barnsley player Dan Wild that extended the home sides lead to 10-0 as he picked up from a close range scrum to dive over. Barnsley responded right on the stroke of half time and this seemed to give the team belief. Tom Gray powered through the Sandal defence to give Barnsley momentum for the second half. With Paddy Jensen adding the extras the half finished 10-7 in the home sides favour.

Playing with the slope, the second half belonged to Barnsley as they scored 17 unanswered points. Tom Gray added his second on 65 minutes and again Paddy Jensen made the difficult conversion. Alex Pearson then made up for his early missed opportunity as he crossed from close range. Barnsley were now in the driving seat as sandal began to run out of steam and Simon Casson was unlucky not to be awarded a try following a brilliant passage of play by the Barnsley team.

Andrew Appleyard rapped up the game with 4 minutes to go with a cheeky drop goal to leave the visitors feeling pretty chuffed with the days performance. Man of the Match went to Neil Robinson for his tremendous work rate but there was also great performances from James Roberts, Alex Pearson and Tom Gray.

Barnsley travel to Wath this week for a Yorkshire League 3 encounter. Kick off is at 3pm and all supporters are urged to travel, a win would secure fourth spot.

The last game of the season will be on the 19th April against league leaders Moortown. A race night has been arranged for the evening with all proceeds going to the Neurocare Charity at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield. Anyone wishing to come along should contact Nic Wrest at the club.