Buccaneers Touch rugby team made the short trip to St Mary’s College in Galway city on Saturday last to compete in the second round of this year’s DTS and it proved to be a worthwhile journey as they secured a first ever top three finish in the national competition.
Buccs actually started their participation in a slow manner, losing 3-2 to last year’s champions Belfast Cooke Warriors with Cian Copelin and John Finnan scoring the tries with the team’s second game against Racoon West Jets ending in a disappointing 1-1 draw.
Buccs finally got into their attacking stride in their third outing against the Barbarians. Tries from Alex Connor, Philip Finnan and Nigel So (two ) gave Buccs a 4-3 half time. Buccs stretched clear in the second half with further scores from Niamh Purtill and two from John Finnan giving them a 7-4 victory.
Buccs then faced a tough encounter against the hosts and tournament favourites Racoon West Rockets. However, they made light of this and put in their best performance of the day. They totally dominated in the first half and led 3-0 at the break with tries from John Finnan, Paul Gavin and Gustavs Mittenbergs. Racoon West came back strongly in the second half but the Buccs defence held firm. John added another try to secure an excellent 4-1 victory for Buccs.
The next game was another tough encounter against the wily Marley Park Tipsters. Buccs could not follow up on their heroics from the previous game and went down to a narrow 3-2 defeat with Paul Gavin among the scorers.
Buccs thus qualified for the third place play-off where they faced Racoon West Rockets again. The home favourites lined out with a very experienced side and would have been keen to get revenge for the earlier reversal. Could Buccs put in a repeat performance?
The answer was ‘YES’ as Buccs secured third place with a 4-3 win, Nigel So, Molly Copelin, Alex Connor and Dion Chitanda scoring the crucial tries.
The Marley Park Tipsters once again rolled back the years to take the gold medal for the second tournament in a row beating Racoon West Jets in the Cup Final.
Much credit goes to Michelle Coen, Dawn Smith and all the Racoon West organisers for an excellent day’s touch action.
All the teams will now look forward to the third round of this competition which takes place in Lahinch.
Buccaneers Touch - Paul Gavin, Nigel So, Aoibhin Tynan, Niamh Purtill, Molly Copelin, Alice Behan, Gustavs Mittenbergs, Philip Finnan, John Finnan, Alex Connor, Cian Copelin, Anthony Quinn, Feidhlim Byrne, Dion Chitanda.
