Buccaneers men's touch rugby team had their first outing of the season with a recent friendly against Old Wesley Touch in Energia Park, Donnybrook.
It proved to a great hit-out for both teams in perfect conditions for touch with no wind or rain. The first half was very even with both teams exchanging scores. Old Wesley struck first before Feidhlim Byrne got the first try for Buccs when he got on the end of a scoop by Ben Porter. After Old Wesley scored again, Nigel So outwitted the home defence to level the scores.
Buccs then proceeded to hit the front for the first time, some excellent driving play by Paul Gavin and Alex Connor bringing Buccs into the red zone before Kieran Abrook caught the defence napping to sneak in. The 'tit for tat' nature of the game continued with Wesley levelling again before Alex Connor put Buccs ahead again. Old Wesley's imposing winger Dylan O'Regan proved to be a thorn in Buccs side throughout and he intercepted a long pass and ran the length of the field to leave the sides level 4-4 at half-time.
The opening minutes of the second half were played at a ferocious pace with both teams going for it without actually scoring. Eventually, Wesley broke the deadlock before Alex Connor brought Buccs level with his second try when he dived over to score after catching the Old Wesley defence offside.
Crucially, Wesley then scored twice entering the final quarter and one of these was another intercept try by O'Regan. Ben Porter then threw Buccs a lifeline with an intercept 20 metres out. Try as they might, Buccs just could not fashion an equaliser and yet another intercept by O'Regan sealed an 8-6 victory for the home team.
Best for Buccs on this occasion were Ben Porter and Alex Connor, while Dion Chitanda and Feidhlim Byrne also impressed in defence.
Buccaneers - Ben Porter, Paul Gavin, Nigel So, Kieran Abrook, Sam Radebe, Dion Chitanda, Feidhlim Byrne, Cian Copelin, Anthony Quinn, Alex Connor.
