A game of 'two halves' as Wales fall just short against the Barbarians. The Oval Zone reports from the Principality Stadium. Picture by Gary Williams.
A pretty even start as both sides felt each other out came to life after ten minutes when outside half for Wales, Eleanor Snowsill, sliced through the Barbarians defence, fed the ball out wide to winger Lisa Neumann who unfortunately put a foot in touch to miss out on what would have been a fantastic score.
The Barbarians responded with their own sniping run which took them just yards short of the Welsh line. Scramble defence by the hosts cleared the lines and, after a slow start, the game had sprung in to life.
With fifteen minutes gone, there was a warning sign for the Welsh ladies at a scrum when they were pushed back at a rate of knots allowing the Barbarians forwards to claim the ball, drive at the Welsh defence, resulting in number eight Charmaine McMenamin powering over for the game's first score, the try being converted by full back Tess Gardner to lead 0-7.
Wales were unable to regain possession from the re-start and it allowed Barbarian winger, Dyddgu Hywel to leave half the Welsh team clutching fresh air as she weaved her way for a length of the field to touch down in the corner and increase the lead to 0-12 with just seventeen minutes on the clock.
There followed a period of play with the visitors happy to allow Wales to keep the ball without ever threatening to break through. It was McMenamin again who injected some urgency in to the Baa Baas play with probing runs gaining the hard yards. From such a run the ball was flashed across the backline, allowing winger Lauren Harris (Scotland) to score the third try, converted by Tess Gardner and open up a commanding 0-19 lead after thirty minutes.
It wasn't long before a dominant |Baa Baas went further ahead after some quick ball found Jenny Murphy (Ireland) in space and she gladly collected and sailed over the line to make it 0-24 to the visitors.
Warming to their task and starting to play in the traditional Baa Baas tradition, the girls in black and white starting throwing the long passes, making the Welsh girls work hard to keep them at bay. However, on the stroke of half time, Wales couldn't prevent Anna Caplice (Ireland) from crossing the whitewash to cap a fine first half performance to lead 0-29 at the break.
With the sound of the coaches' half time talk and the volume of the ever-increasing crowd in the Principality Stadium, it was Wales who started the second half at great pace, taking the ball in to contact and finally showing what they are capable of.
Ten minutes in to the half Lisa Neumann, an RGC favourite, scored the first points for the Welsh Women, coming after a lengthy look by the TMO. 5-29 and at last, something for the crowd to cheer about.
This score was the signal for the visitors to ring the changes and, unfortunately for Wales, it also brought renewed enthusiasm which nipped the Welsh revival in the bud as the Baa Baas regained the initiative.
With time running out, Wales upped the tempo, and a quick throw to the front by Wales at a line out allowed the livewire Keira Bevan to run through, and slice through the defence for a fine try, scored in the corner, making it 10-29 with ten minutes to go.
Keeping one eye on the clock, the Welsh girls were giving their all against a tiring Barbarians side and their reward came when Alex Callender intercepted a tired pass to race through and score the third Welsh try of the half and reduce the Barbarians lead to 15-29.
Time was blown and an appreciative crowd rose to their feet and gave both sides a well-deserved ovation.
Certainly this had been a game of two halves, both teams scoring some excellent tries. Wales will be pleased with their second half comeback but know that there's a lot of work to be done before the Six Nations kicks off. The Barbarians will view it as a job well done and no doubt continue the wonderful spirit that this team inspires and enjoy their well-earned after-match celebrations.
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