Nuns Colts vs Barkers Butts - 8th October 2022

Tries 6 tries
Court 1 conv
Healey(2)
Sumner
Mitchell

Conversion
Sumner (4)

A return to the Liberty way, pitch 1 on another sunny day for a lunchtime kick-off.

It was four weeks ago when Nuns turned in a great performance against Barkers on their turf. Nuns lost on that occasion. Barkers is a team that Nuns always want to beat and they are hard-fought matches.

This one kept to the script of previous meetings and did not disappoint.
mix.

It all started from the kick-off with Nuns keeping Barkers under pressure and pinning them back into their 22.
Court opened up the scoring under the posts. Court finished a great run of play by the team showing their passing and interplay.

3 minutes later with Barkers under pressure in their 22, they kicked to clear their lines, however, Healey was there at full-back covering the kick and set off with one thing in mind...the try line...and dancing around defenders and powering through attempts at a tackle touching down between the sticks. A fantastic solo effort.

This was swiftly followed by Barkers, pushing Nuns back into their own half and going over in the left corner to make it 14-5.

The restart put Nuns back into their 22, but play had to be stopped due to an injury to Twells after a clear-out at the ruck.
Play resumed and Healey went over for his second, after a good passing sequence by the forwards again.
Barkers responded with another try.

Nuns got back into it and Sumner had the ball outside their 22, spotted a mismatch of front-row forwards in front of him, a quick side step and there he was clear through under the posts for Nuns fourth try.
Sumner added the conversion to make it 28-10.

From the restart Nuns pressured Barkers again. In an attempt to clear their lines, the scrum-half went for a clearing box kick, which was charged down by Mitchell. He showed some great football skills, kicked the ball on, and fell onto it scoring the fifth try.
Sumner stood up to kick the conversion, but missed the sticks for the first time.

All the way through the first half the Nuns had determination and aggression in spades. Mitchell once again produced the big hits. The forwards were superior in the scrum and rucks, winning the vast majority. The lineout however was 50/50. Misfiring at times with the wind playing its part.
The backs were on fire, exchanging passes and using speed and diversion to get over the gain line

Half-time Score 33-10

Bring on the second half, a high score awaits....
It didn't disappoint. The premiership has seen some great comebacks over the last few weeks....and now it was our turn.
Barkers had a change of mind during half-time, and took the game to Nuns.
Barkers started to dominate the collisions and broke the gain line again and again.

Their No8, after a quiet first half, came alive and was making meters every time he got the ball.
This came to good effect when he carried the ball through several missed tackles and touched down in the bottom right corner.

Barkers kept up the intensity and took control of the game keeping Nuns pinned back in their own half.

A superb kick from Barkers went behind the back three causing them to turn and run back for the ball, but the bounce of the ball fell kindly for the chasing Barkers player and they touched down to make it 33-20.

It was nerve-wracking stuff if you were a Nuns fan as Barkers went over for a fifth try and this time unlike before Barkers place kicker landed one to make it a nervous last five minutes for all those in red white and black, as the score read 33-27.

Barkers kept pushing and several lineouts later got close to the Nuns line and went over in the right corner.
Score 33-32

The fans on the sidelines could not look as Barkers placed the ball on the kicking tee.....
It was the last play of the match.
It was a long minute as the kicker took aim and ran up and kicked ...
It was Barkers to lose.....
The ball fell short of the sticks...
Nuns players roared a victory over old rivals Barkers Butts.
A hard-fought win, that was well-deserved.

Well done lads!!!

Best wishes to Twells, and here's to a swift recovery.