BUCCANEERS 59 SLIGO 17 – Buccaneers R.F.C

BUCCANEERS 59 SLIGO 17

BUCCANEERS and Sligo served up some highly entertaining rugby in their Bank of Ireland Connacht Girls U-16 Cup quarter-final played at Dubarry Park on Sunday when the homesters came out on top by 59-17. On a cool breezy afternoon it rained rain and tries as both in-form teams played enterprising rugby in testing conditions on a softish surface.

On the main pitch at the Athlone stadium, Buccs came flying out of the blocks with Sally Fleming racing in for the opening try, which she also converted, in the first minute. Two minutes later she finished off a fine break by Faith Amade but this time her conversion rebounded off an upright. Already 12-0 down it looked like a tough afternoon for Sligo but they settled into the contest. Tries by Elena Mullan and Isabella Garvey plus a conversion by Amber Filan had the teams level after just 12 minutes.

The Pirates responded when huge yardage by Fleming sent Kate Mallon weaving her way in for a 15th minute try before Mallon and Gemma Eivers combined to suck in the Sligo cover giving space for Chloe O’Connor to dot down wide on the left. Next Olivia Collins made a fine break to set up Fleming to complete her hattrick. Fleming converted two of these tries to put Buccs 31-12 ahead, all inside the opening 20 minutes.
Mila Fralkova showed great strength and desire to score a try between the posts on 27 minutes and there was still time for Buccs to go from deep defence to notching an Eivers try in a length of pitch final move of the half. Another brace of Fleming conversions put Buccaneers firmly in control 45-12 ahead at halftime.

Sligo made a promising start to the second half and Garvey scored her second try on 36 minutes. But Fralkova replied with her second touchdown following a tapped penalty with Fleming adding the extras for a 52-17 lead.

Both teams utilised their benches and exchanges were relatively even thereafter. Fleming scooted away after a ruck to notch her fourth and Buccs ninth try before the finish. Her conversion completed the 59-17 scoreline.

There was much to admire about both teams’ endeavours but Buccaneers were better balanced and had a greater potency when opportunities were presented. A talented backline had too much pace for the north-westerners to cope with where Fleming, who contributed 34 points, was the star of the show. All in all, however, an impressive squad performance as the young girls took pride of place this weekend.

BUCCANEERS:- M.Quinn; F.Amade, K.Mallon, M.Fralkova, O.Collins; S.Fleming, C.O’Connor; M.Bassey, S.Somers, K.Sylvester; H.Larkin, C.Larkin; C.McEnroe, E.Brady and G.Eivers. Replacements:- N.Mulchrone, F.Dolan, A.Dullea, V.Oliyide, L.Gaynor, A.Keogh, S.Trainor, E.Galvin and K.Ahouissou.

SLIGO:- L.Harte; A.Taaffe, E.Yewlett, L.Coulter, S.McCauley; A.Filan, O.O’Byrne; K.Kelly, L.Walsh, A.Hunt; S.Ballantine, E.Mullan; R.Dooner, E.O’Dowd-Hill and I.Garvey. Replacments:- H.Galwey, E.Nealon, I.King, S.Parkinson, A.Durkin, A.Durkin, S.Cullen and R.Jones.

Referee:- John Joseph Martin (Connacht).