FRUSTRATING SETBACK FOR U-20s
WANDERERS 38 BUCCANEERS 29
BUCCANEERS U-20s put in a Jekyll and Hyde performance when going down 38-29 to Wanderers in their J.P.Fanagan Leinster Premier League game played at Merrion Road, Dublin, on Sunday. On the artificial surface on a tight pitch, the teams shared 8 tries with the homesters helped considerably by a litany of errors from the visitors. The Pirates will certainly reflect on this as a lost opportunity to acquire 5 points on a fine afternoon.
Buccs, whose scheduled fixture away to Seapoint last week fell victim to the weather, made two changes from the side that defeated Naas with Andrew Henson coming in at fullback and Niall Tallon at No.8.
Wanderers opened the scoring virtually from the kick-off, with hesitant defending allowing them to get their maul going and scoring a try. Buccs made a swift response following a penalty to the home 22 where lineout ball was won and Sean Glennon finished off a fine maul for a try. Wanderers were soon back in the lead courtesy of a Cathal MacGearailt penalty.
But the Pirates replied with a second mauled try again stemming from a penalty to touch and Patrick Egan’s lineout catch set the pack in motion for Glennon’s second touchdown. Abu Saka, despite losing a boot, almost made it all the way to the home line but the midlanders were not to be denied too long. Again it was an almost replica try to the preceding one with Aindriu Oates applying the finishing touch. Dylan Duffy converted both to push Buccs 19-8 ahead.
The metropolitans retorted almost immediately with MacGearailt getting away with a knock on to carve his way too easily through the Shannonsiders cover to score a try which he also converted. The pacey flyhalf then landed a penalty that left just a single point between the teams at halftime, Buccaneers 19-18 to the good when the margin should have been more comfortable.
MacGearailt was sin-binned early in the second half for apparent dissent but Duffy was off-target with a penalty. But Buccs soon made their temporary numerical advantage pay following a penalty to the right where Egan claimed lineout ball. Glennon was soon powering his way through to complete his hat-trick of tries whilst securing a try bonus point for the Athlonians. Duffy added the conversion from wide on the right.
But, as they had done from start to finish, Buccaneers continued to be error prone and also suffered from poor decision making, which kept the homesters in the contest. On the hour mark, Matthew Shaw finished off a counter-attack for a try converted by MacGearailt who quickly added a penalty that nosed Wanderers 28-26 ahead.
A good chase following the restart yielded a penalty to Buccs and Duffy duly slotted it over but again the Pirates coughed up a soft penalty which MacGearailt availed of. In the closing stages Buccs went through quite a number of pick and goes and looked sure to score but then lost patience and an ill-judged long pass missed its target to the relief of Wanderers who then capitalised on a tap back going loose to secure their bonus point try converted by MacGearailt. Then in the final phase, when Buccaneers had to hold on to possession, the ball was kicked away aimlessly and with it any chance of securing more than their try bonus point.
Skipped passes that were off-target, efforts to run the ball in their own red area, support too slow at rucks leaving players isolated in possession, were consistent areas of unwise decision making and frustratingly sloppy play. The Pirates pack was well on top for most of the proceedings but Buccs failed to capitalise on this and thus the endeavours of Egan, Glennon, Saka and Oates did not get the reward their endeavours merited. The withdrawal through a hand injury of Tallon in the first half was a significant loss too. Basic errors which kept Wanderers in the hunt must be eliminated ahead of the visit of Section A leaders Queens University on Sunday next.
WANDERERS:- K.Byrne; M.Byrne, R.Mahon, M.Murray, E.Walsh; C.MacGearailt, L.Touhy; J.Heenan, A.Jordan (captain), F.McLean; S.Neely, O.Burgess; M.Shaw, L.Cahill and S.McNamara. Replacements:- T.Groome, M.Cahill, B.Kelly, H.Ward, H.Corcoran, A.Forrest and A.Bowden.
BUCCANEERS:- A.Henson; C.Kelly, L.McCormack, D.Duffy, T.Trainor; D.Reid, E.McMickan; E.Rooney-Digan, S.Glennon, A.Oates (captain); C.Spellman, A.Saka; S.Rohan, P.Egan and N.Tallon. Replacements:- E.McLaughlin (for Tallon, inj. 33 mins), J.Quinn (for Trainor, h/t), A.Coonan (for Rooney-Digan, 52 mins), S.O’Connor, C.McKinney, G.Murphy and R.Costello.
Referee:- Sean Stanley (Leinster).
