Buccaneers men’s touch rugby team travelled to Energia Park in Donnybrook recently for games two and three in the 2023 ITA Men’s Division 1 League.
Due to injuries and illness, Buccaneers travelled with a depleted squad of only eight players rather than the usual 12-14 players but they still carried the fight to the opposition.
Trinity Touch were their first opponent and they brought a young and talented if inexperienced squad. With Paul Gavin pulling the strings in attack, tries from Alex Connor, Anthony Quinn and Kieran Abrook gave Buccaneers a 3-2 lead at the break. The second half was a more tighter affair however with Buccaneers only score arriving when a superb long pass by Ben Porter put Denis O’Connor over in the corner.
Buccaneers seemed set to hold on for their first victory but Trinity slipped through at the death to equalise, ensuring a drop-off ensued. Both sides dropped down to four players each for the two-minute extra-time period. The Buccaneers quartet held out valiantly against two successive sets of six touches for Trinity so then both teams reduced to three players for a further period of sudden death. Buccaneers were in the ascendancy at this stage and they finally broke the deadlock and took the victory when Ben Porter put Kieran Abrook over.
The second game of the night was against Old Belvedere Touch (OBT ), the first half of the contest being very even. Buccaneer’s resolute defence, with Feidhlim Byrne and Dion Chitanda both prominent, held out several Old Belvo attacks before the Anglesea Road side eventually took the lead. Buccaneers equalised soon after with another excellent long pass by Ben Porter putting Denis O’Connor over.
Old Belvo sneaked in front once again but Buccaneers then had them under sustained pressure before the break. However, they could not score and the half ended 2-1 to Old Belvo. In the second period, Buccaneers held on grimly but they eventually ran out of steam with Belvo adding four more scores. Buccaneers only reply was a try by Denis O’Connor who was on the end of another scoop by Paul Gavin. This left the final score 6-2 in favour of Old Belvo.
