Barker have continued their strong start to the 2021 schoolboy rugby season with an impressive 24-21 victory over GPS powerhouse Joeys.

On the back of strong wins over Stannies and Newington in recent weeks, Barker scored four tries with Isaiya Katoa, Bryn Edwards, Dion Yazdani and Ned Slack-Smith all crossing for five pointers at Hunters Hill.

“It was a terrific contest and exactly what we expected. It took all 70 minutes to get the win and I think that showed our guys how important it is to stay in the fight all match,” Barker coach Dean Hargreaves told Rugby News.

Barker led early in the match but went to the half time break trailing 14-12.

“I was pleased that we scored our points across the park,” Hargreaves continued.

“We scored a few tries in the forwards on the back of some strong ball carrying, then we scored a few out wide from some good attacking rugby.

Barker have now beaten Joeys twice in the past three seasons and of the seven trial matches played between CAS and GPS schools so far this season, CAS sides have won six.

“The boys went into the game with a really good attitude and they certainly weren’t overawed and just took it as a great opportunity to play a team like Joeys,” Hargreaves said.

“We’ve got two more trials to come (against GPS schools) and we want to be improving every week.”

Barker play Riverview in a fortnight before opening their CAS campaign against Cranbrook on the final weekend in May.

“Our defence probably has a bit more growth in it. I’m really happy with where we are at in attack at the moment but I think we’ve got the capacity to develop our defence further and to be more consistent,” Hargreaves said.

“I’d also like to see us work on controlling those key moments that you have in every tight game. Whether it’s a restart or a lineout.

“We controlled those moments in the first 10-15 minutes against Joeys and we showed that when we can do that and when everyone does their job, then we can play some pretty good football.

“Now we’ve just got to stretch that to 70 minutes.”

In other schoolboy results over the weekend, Waverley beat Shore 48-12, Oakhill defeated Knox 35-34, Trinity had a big win over Pius and Riverview defeated Kings 12-10.