NAVAN 38 BUCCANEERS 10 – Buccaneers R.F.C

<NAVAN 38 BUCCANEERS 10

BUCCANEERS were most disappointing when going down 38-10 to Navan in their Energia All-Ireland League Division 2B game played at Balreask Old, Navan, on Saturday. Although fielding what looked like a strong squad, Buccs never got going against the Royals who belied their league placing to enjoy a clearcut bonus point victory.

Buccs made two changes from the recent win over Skerries. Both were in the backline where David Colgan returned and Rourke O’Sullivan made his first start. The homesters also made two changes with Mark Coen coming in on the left wing and Shane O’Connor at loosehead prop. Conditions were dry but cool with the diagonal breeze favouring Navan in the opening half.

Navan were quickly on the offensive when Buccs were much too tardy getting across to Tom Gavigan’s kick that yielded a 3rd minute 50/22 which gave them good territory. Following a scrum, Coen (son of Athlonian John) got in for the opening try converted by Gavigan.
Playing down the slight slope Navan continued to enjoy territory but it took them until the 21st minute to add to their tally when Gary Faulkner finished off a tapped penalty. Buccs responded and, following a high tackle, punted the penalty to the right where Sean Glennon burst through after a fine maul for an unconverted try to reduce the arrears to 14-5.

Navan’s Will Finegan incurred a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on on 28 minutes but Buccaneers conceded two sloppy tries while they had the extra player! Although they gathered the ball from a Navan kick ahead, possession was lost at a ruck (which was an on-going problem) and Jeaic Timmons waltzed in for a soft try on the half-hour.

Shortly afterwards Tom Cotton won a restart but both O’Sullivan and Colgan failed to gather possession and Shane Walshe punished them by securing Navan’s bonus point try with just 34 minutes played. Cotton made a promising break for the losers before half-time which arrived with Navan firmly in control at 28-5 to the good.

Buccs applied some sustained pressure following the change of ends but could not breach the home defence. Having withstood that, a sniping break by Timmons was finished off by Finegan after 47 minutes for Navan’s fifth try. Buccs continued to raid with Corey Reid going closest and Navan had their second sin-binning when Faulkner was guilty of slowing ball illegally just before the hour mark.

Harry Hester finished off a right to left move to score Navan’s sixth try ten minutes from time while O’Sullivan’s touchdown was ruled out due to a belated touch-judge flag deeming he had put a foot in touch. However, Buccs got the final score with their best performer Sam Meecham storming through for a well-taken try although Abel Bouwens won’t be happy with his conversion attempt which typified Buccs day.
On paper, it looked like a decent Buccs squad on duty but they never got flowing and coughed up too many errors from start to finish. It was a really disappointing performance as Navan continued their 100% AIL success rate against the midlanders.

NAVAN:- S.Walshe; W.Finegan, B.McEntagart, T.Gavigan, M.Coen; J.Timmons, K.Waddington; S.O’Connor, F.Craik, G.Faulkner; B.McCreary, K.Navickas; M.Brady, C.Farrell (captain) and H.Hester. Replacements:- E.King (for S.O’Connor, 21 mins), S.Nicholson (for Navickas, 30 mins), K.Navickas (for Hester, h/t), D.O’Connor (for Finegan, 47 mins), H.Hester (for Brady, 49 mins), M.Brady (for Navickas, 60 mins), E.King (for Walshe, 60 mins), M.Farrell (for Waddington, 62 mins), T.Kearns (for King, 68 mins), S.Nicholson (for C.Farrell, 73 mins) and S.Walshe (for Timmons, 73 mins).

BUCCANEERS:- D.Colgan; R.O’Sullivan, T.Cotton, C.Reid (captain), O.Burgess; G.McDonald, A.Bouwens; A.Cooper, S.Glennon, C.Byrne; S.Meecham, C.Sheehan; P.Egan, D.Donovan and L.Balsiger. Replacements:- R.Murphy-Sweeney (for Burgess, 36 mins), R.O’Meara (for Byrne, 49 mins), O.Dolan (for Glennon, 61 mins), T.Shine (for Colgan, 61 mins), J.Kelly (for Cooper, 72 mins) and S.Glennon (for Egan, 72 mins).

Referee:- Campbell Stuart (IRFU).

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