The touch rugby club season is well advanced with both Buccaneers youths and men’s playing squads in playing action recently.
Ireland Youths Touch League - Round 1
On Sunday last, Buccaneers Youths travelled to Ollie Campbell Park, home of Old Belvedere RFC for Round 1 of the 2023 Ireland Youths Touch League (YTL ). This competition will run for five rounds over the next three months and promises to be a very exciting development in Irish touch rugby as it will lead into the European Junior Championships in Nottingham later in the summer.
There were games for the Buccaneers girls, Buccaneers boys and also for the Buccaneers mixed youths team. Buccs Girls were first up in game one and they put in an outstanding performance to take victory against DSC Wanderers Girls. Ably led by Aoife Purtill and Aoibhin Tynan, they dominated the game throughout, completing over 90% of their sets of six touches and putting DSCW under relentless pressure in defence. Tries by Aisling Kelly, Aoibhin and Aoife made the final score 3-0 to Buccs.
The boys were up next and they also took on a strong DSC Wanderers side. The pace and passing skills of DSC proved difficult for Buccs to handle and they succumbed to an 8-3 loss. However, Buccs did show some flashes of excellence in attack. Philip Finnan once again showed a clean pair of heels to yet another defence sidestepping almost the entire DSC team to score. Sam Radebe got on the end of a ‘32’ move to score in the outside channel while Alex Connor got over with an excellent diving finish.
The two sides then combined to form the Buccaneers mixed U18 team and they took on a talented if inexperienced Wicklow side. Buccs were slow to get going in this game but once they got into their stride there was no stopping them and they ran out convincing winners by 9-3. Alex and Philip got a hat-trick each and Sam, Cian Copelin and debutante Emma Rowan completed the scoring.
Buccaneers Girls - Aoife Purtill, Aoibhin Tynan, Molly Copelin, Katie Rowan, Emma Rowan, Aisling Kelly
Buccaneers Boys - Philip Finnan, Alex Connor, Cian Copelin, Sam Radebe, Feidhlim Byrne, Anthony Quinn,
ITA Mens Touch League Division 1 Matchday
On Wednesday evening Buccaneers RFC hosted a round of games in the 2023 ITA Mens League, Division 1. Three visiting teams travelled to Athlone from Dublin, Galway and Limerick and it was an exciting evening of competition.
Buccs men’s team got off to a slow start with a 5-2 defeat against Old Wesley Touch with skipper Paul Gavin and Nigel So scoring tries.
They got their second victory in this year’s competition in game two with an 11-4 win over Munster Touch from Limerick. Scorers were Paul, Jonathan Whateley and Alex Connor with two each as well as Ben Porter, Nigel, Sam Radebe and Cian Copelin.
In their final game of the evening, Buccs took on neighbours Racoon West. This turned out to be a high scoring shootout, ending 9-5 to the Galway side. Ben Porter scored two tries, with Nigel So and Sam Radebe also crossing the line for Buccs. Well done to Racoon West who came out with three wins from three games on the night.
Credit is due to Siobhán Daly of Galway and Tighe Brennan of Old Wesley who between them refereed all six games.
Buccaneers Men - Paul Gavin, Ben Porter, Jonathan Whateley, Jack Gordon, Sam Radebe, Alex Connor, Anthony Mangan, Anthony Quinn, Cian Copelin, Feidhlim Byrne, Kieran Abrook, Nigel So
