WANDERERS 5 BUCCANEERS U-20’s 52
BUCCANEERS U-20’s doled out a 52-5 hammering to Wanderers on the tight confines at Merrion Road, Dublin, on a windy but near perfect Sunday afternoon for this Marian Gale Boutique sponsored fixture. Buccs scored 8 tries in this J.P.Fanagan Leinster League Premier 2 encounter that keeps the Athlone side nestling in the top three.
Ben Daly led the scoring with a hat-trick of tries with a brace each from Luke Balsiger and Gavin Daly while Jack Crompton and Tom Shine got a try each. Ruaidhri Fallon gave an exhibition of rugby from stand-off, his field kicking especially kept the opposition, filled with Leinster school boy stars, guessing and on the back foot all day.
Wanderers forwards were a tough pack and started the stronger but were tamed after 10 minutes with a Daly try and on 20 minutes with a James Blair silky run that sucked in a handful of defenders which gave Crompton space to put Daly in for his first try of the game.
A few minutes before half time the bonus point was secured by Daly and the fifth try of the afternoon was touched down by Balsiger as Buccs lead 31-0 at half-time. All day the forwards protected the ball and their industrious scrum half David Colgan. Geoff Lande got a try for Wanderers when Buccs decided to over-elaborate on exiting their own 22 after the change of ends.
Once the ‘bomb squad’ was released from the bench, led by the powerful Kieran Egan and energetic Robbie Byrne, Buccs entered cruise control with Cameron Brill and Jim Connolly punching holes in the opposition defence with powerful runs.
In a very powerful gritty, hungry show of force by Martin Staunton and Damien Shine’s swashbuckling squad, man of the match Cian McCann was unstoppable in every position all day and the influence of front rowers Charlie Byrne, Oisin Dolan and Dylan Bolger could not be matched by Wanderers. Sean Treacy and Donagh McCormack gave solid displays when they came off the bench and will give more selection headaches to management. The hope is that this group can keep developing their style of rugby further and keep competing with the top U-20 teams in the country.
This was a proud comprehensive away performance by Buccs 20’s who next Saturday, November 19th, are on the road again but this time in the direction of Mullingar on their bikes \uD83D\uDEB2 along the Greenway, the players having decided to participate in a fundraising sponsored cycle to help finance their U-20’s rugby programme. A social evening is planned afterwards in The Bounty Bar to watch Ireland take on Australia. All members and supporters of Buccaneers are welcome to participate on this sponsored greenway cycle.
This visit to the Capital was live streamed by Tom O’Neill with commentary from Ray Lannon and supported by www.mariangale.ie
WANDERERS:- J Casey; G Lande, D Hale, J Shields, S Arkwright; D Clarke, E Lacey; R.McArdle, M.Patterson, F.Duggan; M.Atkinson, M.Cassidy (captain); L.Murray, O.Carroll and S.Atkinson. Replacements:- O.J.Meagher, R.Shanahan, R.O’Sullivan, E.Doherty, J.Moroney and J.Brady.
BUCCANEERS:- J.Blair; M.Glynn, T.Shine (captain), J.Crampton, B.Daly; R.Fallon, D.Colgan; D.Bolger, O.Dolan, C.Byrne; F.McDonnell, C.McCann; D.Fitzgerald, G.Daly and L.Balsiger. Replacements:- C.Brill, J.Connolly, K.Egan, L.Giles, R.Byrne, D.McCormack, S.Treacy, O.Burgess, A.Cepi and E.Naughton.
Referee:- Michael Kirk (Leinster).
