HEAD coach Steve Barber says Bargoed will not shy away from playing an expansive game now they are in the Principality Premiership.

Barber, who has been at the Bulls throughout their meteoric rise to the top tier of Welsh club rugby, takes his side to Llandovery tomorrow (2.30pm) in the hope of a first victory of the season.

Bargoed were beaten 13-10 by Neath on their Premiership bow last Saturday, with Barber hugely disappointed not to have got the league campaign off to a winning start.

That game, along with most others on the opening weekend, was badly affected by heavy rain, and Barber felt his players didn’t adapt to the conditions well enough.

However, with better weather expected tomorrow, Barber reckons that Bargoed will be able to show what they are capable of with ball in hand.

“We were very disappointed with the defeat against Neath,” he said. “We didn’t play the conditions well and tried to play too much rugby when we should have kept things tight.

“We’ve always played expansive rugby as we have come up through the leagues and hopefully we can do that at Llandovery with a bit of sun on our backs.

“We’ve got a good scrum and lineout and have never really changed the way we play, even when we were in the lower divisions and playing big teams in the cup.

“Llandovery have got a good set of backs and they like to run with the ball too, so it should be an open game if the weather is nice.”

A big factor in Bargoed’s success over the years has been down to having a tight-knit squad and management team.

Barber and coaches Dai Lynch and Gareth Gunter, as well as a number of the players, have come through the leagues together, giving everyone at Bargoed Park an enormous sense of pride at what they have achieved.

“We’ve never had a big turnaround in players and the majority have been at the club for years,” added Barber. “It seems that people join Bargoed but don’t leave.

“The chairman, Neil Carter, and the committee have worked very hard on the ground and now it’s a matter of pushing on.”