Sheffield Medicals 14 - 26 Barnsley

Sheffield Medics 14 – 26 Barnsley

Barnsley recorded a second victory on the spin against a Medics side reinforced by this year’s new university charges but produced a patchy display. Player coach Andrew Appleyard spoke before the game of the team making sure good pieces of play were not followed by something poor and swiftly undone. Unfortunately his warnings were not heeded as much promising Barnsley play was followed by a handling error or a breakdown infringement to kill any momentum.

Barnsley started slowly but a limited Medics attack did not look likely to make any breaks. As Barnsley held their line Medics were looking short of ideas but a failure to roll away left a penalty opportunity in front of the posts. Surprisingly this was missed, a welcome let off, and Barnsley were able to clear.

Emery joined the line from 15 and made an early break into Medics territory and Barnsley soon earned a penalty which he put over to take the lead for his team. Barnsley had difficulty from the restart which continued for the whole game. Beck and Eaden were again racking up the tackles and making them before the gain line creating turnover opportunities that Tasker and Cairns were able to take to keep Medics pegged back.

Appleyard kicked well out of hand again, targeting the Medics right wing who had a torrid time under the ball. Pressure on him from Elliott Copley saw knocks on and turnovers, he was so far in his pocket that he might well have clogged the Copley family washing machine when Elliott's kit got back home. One such incident drew a penalty for holding on and Emery made it 6-0.

Medics missed another shot at goal and Copley forced a knock on in pursuit of the clearing kick. From the resulting scrum Will Smith dummied a pass and streaked through. As the ball came back the other way Barnsley had the overlap. Although Reed was hauled down from behind Emery picked up and shot round the last defender to score a try he converted for 13-0. Unfortunately Reed suffered a scratched eyeball in the action and had to leave the field. It was welcome to see Josh Fletcher come on and the travelling support certainly were enthused by it.

From the kick off Barnsley went long and a good chase immediately gave a penalty away for a high tackle. Medics kicked to the 22 and a simple switch of the play after one tackle saw their 12 run through the blindside untouched which was a poor way to let Medics straight back in after a long period of pressure. 13-7 it soon was.

As the half wore on Medics fielded another long kick and elected to return it. A crunching tackle from Terrington saw him quickest to his feet to take the ball before the ruck formed and Will Smith managed to grubber deep into Medics territory. Medics forwards were guilty of chasing their clearing kick from an offside position and Emery took a quick tap to dart through. Tyler Smith followed up with a strong run and a penalty for an offside defender was put over by Emery to make it 16-7.

A good run from Copley and then Cairns saw Barnsley get a penalty on the Medics 5m line but for the only time in the match the scrum failed and Medics were able to get the ball off for half time when all the money would have been on another Barnsley try.

Medics 7 – 16 Barnsley

The second half started poorly for Barnsley. A kick out on the full meant they were stuck on their 22 and then a penalty for offside allowed Medics a line-out on the 5m line. The Barnsley line-out that had caused so much disruption the previous week was nowhere to be seen and often failed to muster any sort of challenge during the game. Medics transferred good ball to the back and a simple peel from their number 8 saw him power over to score. Conversion landed to drag Medics right back into the game.

Barnsley managed to dominate the following 20 minutes of play and could be disappointed with their points haul from it. Copley returned kicks well and was a constant threat to Medics. One kick return was followed up by a Tasker break and Barnsley were in the Medics 22. Barnsley had penalty advantage as Medics disrupted Perry and then a late tackle on Appleyard caused a melee in midfield. The referee showed yellows to both the tackler and Bunny for his reaction but elected not to reverse the penalty for the cynical nature of the two Medics offences. Emery kicked the penalty, making it 19-14.

Parker came into the midfield as Eaden was sacrificed to shore things up. Barnsley produced their best spell of rugby to go clear again. Cairns and Terrington carried well to give quick ball before Hobson made ground up the middle. Beck, Tyler Smith & Tasker showed great hands in midfield before Fletcher threw a great long pass to give Copley an opportunity. Although he was tackled just short in the corner he released the ball to prevent being called in touch and Tasker managed to take it over the line. Emery converted for 26-14.

A disappointing incident followed as Barnsley continued on the front foot. Barnsley stole a scrum against the head, Appleyard and Parker gave passes at the last split second the send Copley away. Tackled by the full back he popped to Perry off the floor who put Parker in to score in the corner. The Medics linesman signaled in touch which was heckled by the Barnsley support stood behind and the match video confirmed the try should have stood.

The Medics clearance from the line-out was grubbered into a gap by Emery which he gathered and a penalty for Barnsley followed at the ruck that formed. Emery missed the shot for the only blot on his copy book in the day. Barnsley possibly should have gone for the corner or ran the ball as a try would have killed the game and opened up a bonus point possibility but the chance was gone and they wouldn’t score again.

Emery was to make another break with Medics stretched but his offload went to a retreating defender rather than a teammate and Medics kicked up field with nobody home for Barnsley. Exley intelligently kicked up the line football pass style as picking up the ball could have seen him badly isolated.

Three Medics injuries in the last 10 minutes halted the flow of the game and it petered out to the final whistle. Calum Emery was a clear man of the match for Barnsley with 21 points to back up a great running, kicking and tackling performance although Tasker was unlucky to be edged out for a 2nd week running after another fine display up front.

Barnsley travel to Leodiensians this weekend who come off a comfortable victory over Old Crocs to register their first win of the season.