Our first game after the return to play was announced was away against Thornensians who currently play one league above in Yorkshire 2. This was also the first game under new Head Coach Ant Posa and he was alongside Ryan Burrows in our new look coaching team.

We took 20 players, restricted by measures which prevent travel across tiers so missing a few regulars but also featuring several new players who have joined us since the summer. Two of those were youngsters Callam Posa and Sam Marsden who were making not only their Barnsley debuts but also their senior rugby debuts. Both impressed and Marsden eventually took the man of the match award, narrowly pipping forward Aaron Lonsdale who led the physical charge for the reds.

The match was split into 3 periods of 25 minutes and, after a scoreless first 25 when both teams threw the kitchen sink at each other, we took the lead in the 29th minute with a well worked try scored by A Guest and converted by Joe Perry. There was no further score until the 47th minute when Perry scored our 2nd try but no conversion on this occasion. The score remained at 0-12 at the end of the 2nd period. We started to take clear control of the game in the 3rd period and scored a further 3 tries in 20 minutes through Adam Edwards (2) and skipper Tom Bagnall, 1 of which was converted. After a lineout error on 72 minutes and a rare lapse in our defence Thorne scored their only try of the game to make the final score 5-29. Credit to both sides who really did run hard at each other after a 9 month break and matched each other defensively for the first 30 minutes in a really physical contest. Also good to have the game refereed by Liam Taylor who once again made a good contest possible and let the players take centre stage.