Corinthians 5 Buccaneers 22
On an extremely difficult day for rugby, with a biting cold and swirling wind, in addition to the heavy rain, this was a good match and a very good win for Buccaneers u15s in the Connacht League.
Electing to play with the elements in the first half Buccaneers made a shaky start and conceded a lot of ground to the home team, who made great progress up the pitch through their forwards. The visitors gradually took control of the half and their pressure paid off when Jack Linnane crashed over for a great opening score which he also converted. Shortly after this, Jack scored another try when, after a good passing move, he spotted a gap in the Corinthians defence and darted over for a fine score. Buccaneers kept the pressure on the home team and this paid off when John Dooley sprinted through for an excellent try. John had a marvellous match in the second row and has been improving at a great rate this season. This try showed immense strength to gain possession of the ball and then a devastating turn of speed to sprint clear and dot down.
Karl Walesch had a fine game at hooker on a very difficult day for lineout throwing, as did Tiernan Morrissey when he entered the fray in the second half. Alan O’Donovan was very effective in the second half on his long-awaited return from injury. Ryan Browne, before him, put himself around the pitch very well. Playing against the foul elements in the second half, Buccaneers got the all-important first score which presented Corinthians with a mountain to climb. This was scored by the brilliant Eoin Maher who was extremely effective at first centre both in defence and attack. Corinthians completed the scoring when their excellent number 8 burst through and dived over despite valiant efforts by Dylan Lynch and Ben Carty to stop him. Besides John Dooley and Eoin Maher, other players who caught the eye were Colm Conroy with his aggressive style of play in the pack, Cian O’Reilly, who made some great tackles on the wing and Kevin Cooper, who was solid at number 8. The defensive performance of this team as a whole was good. This is something that has been worked on at training. The value of an aggressive defence cannot be over emphasised and there is still some work to be done in this department. It is also necessary to get more depth and pace in the backline attack.
The next league match is away to Galwegians at the weekend. Training continues on Saturday mornings at 10.30am. It is vital that all squad members attend every training session. If unavailability is unavoidable please contact coach, Clem Higginbotham at (086 ) 4022490.
