Barnes survival bid in the balance (From Your Local Guardian)

Barnes survival bid in the balance

11:32am Monday 13th February 2012 in Rugby Union By Ben Gilby

In-form Clifton continued their excellent recent run with a comfortable 37-12 win over Barnes at Cribbs Causeway.

The Bristol-based side sealed the deal with an astonishing fifteen minute display half way through the opening stanza which saw them blitz the Green and Golds with four tries.

However, it was Brett Taylor’s men who had the best of the opening exchanges, but they were unable to transfer this promising start to the scoreboard.

Gradually, Clifton came more and more into the game, aided by their total domination of the line-out.

One such success saw the home side drive towards the line. Matt Salter lost the ball, but Barnes were not able to jump on it in time to prevent scrum-half Matt Britton propelling it over the line.

Ben Roberts’ conversion attempt missed.

Soon after, Clifton had a chance to double their lead as Britton’s searing run resulted in him putting in Sam Smith, but the winger was stopped just short of the line.

Crucially, Barnes responded as fly-half Gareth Williams-Davies profited from a Clifton error to cross in the corner.

Unfortunately, he was not able to send the fiendishly difficult conversion between the posts.

This spurred Clifton on, and they produced a display of dominant rugby which Barnes just could not cope with. Hooker Paul Fincken drove forward with the ball, before John Levis plunged over. Roberts’ kick missed, but he made amends just three minutes later with a penalty.

Front row Will Davis drove through Barnes’ defence two minutes afterwards to put in Darren Barry for another try, which Roberts converted.

The try scoring bonus point was sealed shortly after thanks to full-back George Kariayiannis. A further score followed four minutes afterwards through Sam Smith, with Roberts converting the last two tries.

With the half-time score of 34-5, it was clear that, barring a miracle, the outcome was decided. Consequently, it was no surprise that the second half had little to report on.

One positive Barnes will take from it is that following the early sin-binning of captain Gary Holmes, they conceded just three points from the boot of Ben Roberts.

These were the last points that Clifton managed as, just before the end, Barnes fly-half Gareth Williams-Davies crossed for his second try of the afternoon, which he also converted.

Barnes survival hopes are now likely to hinge on three away matches against fellow strugglers Westcombe Park, Dings Crusaders and Lydney. If they can record a minimum of two wins in these fixtures, they will retain an excellent chance of staying in National Two South.