Hughes and Nagle tries secure victory for Buccaneers

Corinthians 12 Buccaneers 14

By Michael Silke

Displaying commendable commitment and endeavour, Buccaneers surprised Corinthians 14-12 in their Bank of Ireland Connacht Senior League fixture played at Corinthian Park, Galway, on Saturday.

On a warm, sunny afternoon it took some time before the two relatively youthful sides clicked up the tempo with Buccs' greater desire proving crucial in overcoming the hosts.

Buccs made four enforced changes from their opening fixture against Sligo, divided equally between backs and forwards. Harry Balsiger and Tom Shine started in the backline while Patrick Egan and Ryan O’Meara slotted in to the back row. Corinthians had just two changes from their win over Galwegians, John Claffey coming in at flanker and Finn McNulty on the left wing.

On a balmy afternoon with just a light crossfield breeze to contend with, it took both teams some time to get their rhythms going. A poor tackle inside the opening minute on Balsiger resulted in a very early visit to the sin bin by Sean Fox of the homesters. Buccs dominated the early exchanges and territory but Orin Burke put in a try-saving tackle on Balsiger while Gearoid McDonald overhit a penalty.

When Corinthians twice got close to the midlanders' line, Conor Morrissey got over the ball on both occasions to repel them. Midway through the half, Nans Chatron (Corinthians) and James Kelly (Buccaneers) were shown yellow cards in separate incidents.

The westerners were dominating the lineouts and had an edge in scrums but the Pirates had the two best chances in the second quarter. Frankie Hopkins made substantial ground following a quickly tapped penalty with Morrissey and Sam Fogarty carrying the move further before being held out while McDonald was narrowly off-target with a long-range penalty. That was the final act of a surprisingly scoreless first half.

Ryan Cahill made his debut for the Shannonsiders following the change of ends, replacing hooker Morrissey who had sustained a knock. A sweeping move by Corinthians finally got the scoreboard operating with a try in the opening moments of the second half, Joey Tierney’s conversion putting the homesters 7-0 to the good.Injury forced another front-rower Dylan Bolger off four minutes into this half with Jack Scouler coming into the back row and O’Meara switching to prop.

Two minutes later, Buccaneers were level through a wonderfully worked try. Jenson Nagle’s long pass sent Balsiger raiding up the left wing, Crampton surged through the centre before slick passes by Scouler and McDonald transferred possession to Harry Hughes. The right winger had moved across to the left flank and he wrong-footed a number of Corinthians before grounding the ball for a try converted by McDonald to level the scores 7-7.

In a much livelier and more engaging second half, an upright tackle halted a raid by Nagle. Corinthians were reduced to 14 players on 54 minutes when, following the intervention of a touch-judge, Chatron’s late and high tackle warranted his second yellow card and consequently a red one.

Buccs, who had got to grips with problems in the scrum, dominated the final quarter and went through numerous phases in the lead up to Nagle’s try, the full-back profiting from snappy passes by Shine and McDonald with the latter adding the conversion to take a 14-7 lead.

Corinthians were not quite done yet and, following a penalty to the right corner, their pack drove over for a try by Max Holmes with Tierney’s conversion rebounding off the woodwork. Buccs had several promising situations in the closing stages but lacked a clinical finishing touch that denied them a clearer winning margin.

Nevertheless, the young Buccs squad were relentless from start to finish, especially in their defensive tackling. They problem solved too particularly in the scrum setpiece but lineouts malfunctioned with the impressive Bryan Walsh of Corinthians ruling the roost in this department.

Young guns Crampton, Egan and Bolger caught the eye in the forwards exchanges while Frank Hopkins, Nagle and Ross Murphy-Sweeney were pick of a lively and enterprising backs unit.

Buccaneers: J. Nagle; H. Hughes, R. Murphy-Sweeney, T. Shine, H. Balsiger; G. McDonald, F. Hopkins (captain); J. Kelly, C. Morrissey, D. Bolger; F. Galvin, S. Fogarty; P. Egan, J. Crampton, R. O’Meara. Replacements: R. Cahill (for Morrissey, inj., h-t), J. Scouler (for Bolger, inj., 43 mins), A. O’Carroll (for Shine, 60), C. Brill, C. Daly, A. Flanagan.

Corinthians: O. Burke; S. Fox, N. Chatron, T. Waters, F. McNulty; H. Rogers, J. Tierney; E. Oifoh, M. Holmes, R. Dufficy; R. Gaughran, B. Walsh; R. Glynn, J. Claffey, P. Flannery. Replacements used: J. Boyan, J.D. Duffy, C. Muldoon, M. Flynn, J. Conway and S. Power.

Referee: Andrew Fogarty (Connacht).