BUCCANEERS 29 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN 21
BUCCANEERS took over clear leadership of the J.P.Fanagan Leinster U-20 League Premier 2 following a 29-21 victory on a glorious spring afternoon at Dubarry Park on Sunday. Buccs were utterly dominant for large swathes of this entertaining encounter, extending their half-time lead of 17-0 to 29-0 in the third quarter. But a drop in tempo and application in the final quarter almost undid their excellent work of the opening hour. Nevertheless, a merited bonus point win was achieved.
Buccs made two changes from last week’s win over St. Mary’s College with Cormac Ryan and Ewan Joyce-Whyte, both of whom impressed when introduced in the second half of that victory, starting on this occasion.
Facing the sun and light breeze, the Pirates were swiftly into their stride with Donncha Connolly making an early rob at a UCD scrum and it took the homesters just four minutes to open their account. Following a lineout on the left near halfway, Buccs moved the ball neatly across the paddock to Callum Kelly and the winger powered forward to slide in for a try at The Bounty corner.
Nine minutes later a wonderful maul by the home pack was finished by Niall Tallon for his side’s second unconverted try. On 17 minutes Buccs turned over possession inside their own 22 and Dylan Duffy kicked ahead. His swift chase forced a UCD error close to their line and Patrick Egan pounced to touch down. Charlie O’Carroll added a fine conversion as Buccs dazzled in the sunshine. A forward pass denied Tom Cotton a try while UCD also had a try ruled out in similar fashion. In between College’s Maxim Aschenbrenner was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on but the midlanders, who lost the influential Tallon to injury before the half-hour mark, did not take advantage and so their lead remained 17-0 at the interval.
The Students incurred their second yellow card just two minutes into the second half, again for a slap forward with Donnacha McKevitt getting a ten minutes breather. Following the resultant penalty to the right, Buccaneers did take advantage this time and promptly inflicted further punishment when Sean Rohan stretched over the visitors line to secure a bonus point try which O’Carroll converted.
The best score of the game followed ten minutes later with some wonderful handling by the home backs shredding the UCD defence and Cotton finished off in style. O’Carroll’s conversion stretched Buccs lead to 29-0.
Aschenbrenner arced in for a try on the hour mark to open UCD’s account and six minutes later Conor Hillecamp notched their second. Larry Kirkham converted both tries to narrow the arrears to 29-14 and suddenly the Students had their tails up. Meanwhile Buccs had taken their collective foot off the pedal and became ragged. College were now alive and displaying their attacking capabilities while Buccs were forced to show their defensive qualities. Aschenbrenner grabbed his second try, converted by Kirkham, late in a contest where the dynamics had changed dramatically. But Buccs held out in an exciting climax to deny the visitors a losing bonus point whilst securing their third successive victory that sees them topping the ‘Super Six Group One’ table.
This was again a decent overall squad contribution and hopefully the players will have learned to keep the momentum going even when it appears that they may be home and dry. At this level players cannot afford to nod off or lower their work rate. But this Pirates crew is developing into a pretty decent outfit.
BUCCANEERS:- E.Joyce-Whyte; C.Kelly, T.Cotton, T.Sheehan, D.Duffy; C.O’Carroll, D.Connolly; S.Doyle, S.Rohan, R.Foxe; A.Saka, C.Sheehan (captain); C.Ryan, P.Egan and N.Tallon. Replacements:- N.Botes (for Tallon, inj. 28 mins), A.Oates (for Foxe, 52 mins), O.Donoghue (for Doyle, 59 mins), L.Giles (for Saka, 61 mins), A.Saka (for C.Sheehan, inj. 75 mins), E.McMickan (for Rohan, 77 mins), L.McCormack and L.Cassidy.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN:- S.Phelan; M.Aschebrenner, J.Mason, L.Kirkham, C.Foley; G.Foley, S.Shortt; O.O’Brien, F.Devereaux, D.McKevitt; R.Tobin, C.Hillecamp; T.Byrnes, S.Byrne and F.Spain. Replacements:- J.Deegan (for Spain, temp. 45 mins), M.Campbell (for Tobin, 52 mins), J.Maguie (for Hillecamp, 68 mins), L.Leahy (for Shortt), E.Porter, E.O’Reilly and R.Besse.
Referee:- Siobhan Daly (Connacht).