Buccaneers maintain winning ways with emphatic victory

Buccaneers U-20s continued their impressive winning start in the South-West Conference League Division One with an emphatic 45-0 victory over Highfield at Cois Laoi, Cork, on Saturday. This was Buccs" fourth successive win and, notably, their third away success in that sequence as they notched a third Bonus point to date. Buccaneers" first half display was magnificent, an absolute team performance in testing conditions, in which they built up a stunning 40-0 lead. Buccaneers made one enforced change for this fixture, Eoin Doolan starting in place of the injured Conor Molloy. Driving rain made conditions horrendous prior to kick off and, with the referee deeming Woodleigh Park unplayable, the action was switched to nearby Cois Laoi. Kick off was, consequently, a little behind schedule but, thankfully, the rain abated and the weather improved as the game progressed. A flying start by the midlanders brightened up matters considerably for their hardy band of supporters who made the long trip south and, within two minutes, following some crisp passing through the centre Colin Draper got in for a lightening try which Adam Kennedy converted. Buccs promptly controlled play and ten minutes later following good ball from a scrum Billy Henshaw, assisted by Kennedy and Paul Robinson, was put away for a try in the right corner and an early 12-0 advantage. Six minutes later, Buccaneers crossed the home whitewash again, this time John Connellan starting the scoring move before looping around as his backline moved the ball and the outhalf accepted Draper"s pass to touchdown at the posts with Kennedy tapping over the conversion. The bonus point was secured as early as the 25th minute, Buccs recycling impressively down the middle where Shane O"Neill finished off a series of mauls to touchdown. Kennedy converted again to give Buccaneers a handsome 26-0 lead. This was splendid team rugby by the young Buccs and four minutes later David Fagan showed fancy footwork and quality finishing to dummy in for his side"s fifth try on the counter attack. Kennedy, whose place-kicking was near faultless in the heavy going, duly added the spoils and he also converted in added time when Henshaw notched his second well-taken try to give the visitors a hugely impressive 40-0 half-time cushion. A bit like Ireland later in the day at Thomond Park, Buccaneers were not quite so impressive on the restart. With the result already a formality, focus and urgency dropped somewhat. The full quota of replacements was also utilised early in this second period but this was not really the root of Buccs easing off their collective pedal. Some puzzling decisions by the match officials including yellow cards to Rory Walshe and Doolan frustrated Buccs in the third quarter. But they finished the game in some style with a top-class try emanating inside their own 22 incorporating some tasty interplay and driving forwards work being finished off by Conor Murtagh (who started the whole move) who got in on the short side down the right for try number seven with four minutes remaining. Buccaneers" first half display was splendid with some wonderful teamwork put in. However, the players will be most disappointed with their second half effort when they allowed the tempo to drop and, crucially, this is something that they must learn from, for they cannot afford to show similar complacency against any of the other top contenders. But, overall, the lineout work continues to be very good and the forwards controlled the scrums in important positions. The backs again demonstrated their potency in accounting for no less than six of the seven tries scored. Connellan moved the backline well throughout and Robinson had another storming input at No. 8, while Henshaw continues to catch the eye with his try-scoring exploits. BUCCANEERS: D.Fagan; B.Henshaw, C.Draper, R.Walshe, E.Doolan; J.Connellan, A.Kennedy; N.Harney (captain), D.Egan, T.Thompson; K.Headd, R.Byrne; S.O"Neill, K.Creaven and P.Robinson. Replacements used:- J.J.Carey (for Thompson), D.Byrne (for Egan), H.Reilly (for Creaven), C.Murtagh (for Kennedy) and R.Ahearne (for Fagan). Blood subs: D.Fagan (for Doolan) and D.Byrne (for Egan).