Barbarians’ rugby seniors into the semis
THERE were mixed fortunes for the Barbarians club at the weekend, with the under 16s losing at home on Saturday against a strong La Vila team, whilst the seniors won a gruelling match against Tatami of Valencia – a victory that takes them into the first division semi-final play-offs.
The under 16s put on a great all-round performance against the visitors, but credit where credit is due; the visitors were just too strong on the day in all departments. The home team never quite got going and let La Vila control the game from start to finish, with the visitors running out winners 15-12. It was a well-fought, close-run game and with just a little more luck in the last 15 minutes, the home team could have grabbed a hard earned victory, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Congratulations to La Vila and good luck going forward.
The seniors on the other hand, were victorious in an extremely physical hardfought home fixture against Tatami of Valencia, in the play-offs for the division one championships.
The visitors were first on the scoreboard with a fine try in the corner after only 10 minutes. Not deterred the home team fought back and scored a couple of fine tries to take the lead 19-5. Again Tatami pressed hard against some incredible defending from the Ba Bas and managed to score another try before half-time to reduce the deficit to 19-12.
With everything to play for, the away team hit the ground running at the start of the second half to level the scores 1919. It was a tense time for all the local supporters!
With both teams attacking at will, and knowing this was a straight knockout competition, the Ba Bas managed to dig deep and score two fine tries in the final 20 minutes, to run out 3419 winners.
They now progress to the semi-finals, to be played against Moncada on March 26 in Valencia. What a match that will be!
If you have played before in the UK, still fancy a game, and live in the Marina Alta area, you are very welcome to have a run-out at training with the squad every Tuesday and Thursday. We have players from Spain, Argentina, New Zealand, the UK, France, Italy, Canada, Chile and Ecuador.
Basically, you could say we are a multi-national set up which evokes the culture of Barbarians rugby.
The Barbarians run academy teams covering under 16s to under 18s (both men’s and women’s) through to seniors,
and welcomes everyone to come and train and join the club. Free qualified coaching is available at all levels.
Please call Santi (Spanish) on 676 612 357 or Mac (English) on 609 646 349 for more information.