Taunton in full flow after early dismissal

Barnes .............. 10 Taunton T ........ 45

AN excellent second half performance allowed Taunton to take apart 14man Barnes in a fixture moved to the Rosslyn Park ground because of a waterlogged pitch.

The tempo was set when Barnes full-back Myles Rawstron-Rudd was sent off in the 16th minute for a tip-tackle.

Despite Taunton's Jack Arnott having a try chalked off moments after the red card, Barnes held on for most of the first half.

Both teams had chances to open the scoring.

Barnes were held up on multiple phases and Pierre Thompson was unable to collect a pass after a wonderful burst from Nick Mason.

But the West Country visitors got the breakthrough with six minutes left in the half, Ben Oliphant-Thompson finishing off a good team move and Gary Kingdom converting.

Taunton started the second half excellently, Thompson beating a couple of defenders to add their second try within two minutes of the restart.

It was game over five minutes later as Connor Baker crashed over and Kingdom added his third conversion.

Thomas Wyatt added the bonus-point try in the 54th minute with an excellent run as Taunton piled on the pain.

Isaac Dalton added the fifth on the hour as Taunton kept coming, Baker scoring his second three minutes later.

The seventh came from Alex Spurdle a few moments later as Taunton's front row each scored in four rampant minutes.

Barnes hit back with late tries from Nick van Buuren and Conor Harbison.