INTERNATIONAL SUCCESSES FOR BUCCANEERS TOUCH RUGBY PLAYERS
There were three Buccaneers players on the Ireland Mixed 18s Touch Rugby team that won the Gold Medal beating Wales 7-6 in an exciting final in UL Limerick. Aoife Purtill and John and Philip Finnan all lined out and all three players scored in the final. The Buccs trio were by far the top three try scorers for the MX18s scoring a whopping 40 tries between them over 9 games. John was top scorer with 16 while Aoife and Philip both got 12 each. Massive congratulations to them for this great achievement. All three players have been playing Touch internationally for Ireland at Under 15 and under 18 level since 2022.
All the details of the Mixed 15s competition as well as live streams of the final and other MX15s games can be found at https://www.internationaltouch.org/events/atlantic-youth-touch-cup/2025/mixed-18/
The Mixed 20s including Buccs’ Jack Gordon won Silver in Limerick going down 10-9 to England in an epic final. The MX20s reached the final with a 100% record having previously beaten England twice. Jack scored his first international try in the pool game against England and also scored against South Africa. Well done Jack who first debuted for Ireland in 2024 and has come on in leaps and bounds since then.
The Boys 15s won the Bronze Medal beating Lebanon 10-2 in the third place match and they had the biggest Buccaneers contingent with 4 players; Ryan and Finn Copelin, Jayden Quinn and Jack Delaney. Jayden got 3 tries while Finn also got on the scoresheet. All 4 players were making their international debuts so congrats to them for acquitting themselves so well.
Buccs also had representation on the Girls 18s team with Aoibhín Tynan and Niamh Purtill lining out. Both girls were key players for their team, lining out in the Middle positions and scoring 3 tries between them. Aoibhín and Niamh have been playing international Touch since 2022 and so are very experienced at this level.
The Boys 18s had Buccs’ Alex Connor in their line-up and finished fourth in the competition, going down to Wales 13-6 in the Bronze Medal game. The B18s qualified for the Bronze Medal game with victories over Ukraine and Portugal. Alex got one try against Portugal.
The MX15s, who included Cooper So and Mollie Quinn in their line-up, performed very well, finishing fifth overall. In the pool stages, they had wins against Belgium, Portugal and England Lions. They were unfortunate not to go further after a narrow defeat to Scotland in the Quarter Final. However, they recovered impressively from that disappointment to beat Portugal and Belgium again for fifth place. Mollie clocked up 5 tries in the competition while Cooper got over for 3 tries.
Buccaneers Touch also had our first international referee during the Atlantic Cup with young Feidhlim Byrne taking charge of the England v Cayman Islands Mixed 15s game. Congratulations to Feidhlim for this first. Buccaneers can be very proud of all these fantastic young players and referees who represented their country so well in Limerick. Anyone who wishes to emulate the Atlantic Cup stars and give Touch Rugby a try is welcome to join us at Buccaneers RFC any Monday evening at 7pm. Call Denis on 087 1818 911.
Buccaneers Touch Rugby players win Gold, Silver and Bronze at the Atlantic Youth Touch Cup in Limerick!
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