Ballina U16s v Buccaneers

Ballina Under 16 boys played Buccaneers today in our temporary home pitch at Attymas. Weather conditions were good and set the scene for an entertaining match. Ballina had not played Buccaneers for a while so the match was keenly awaited and a good test against our midlands rugby colleagues to see how our u16s measured up against the rest of the province.

This season has been a hard one for the u16s, beset with injuries, meant that the team have not had a consistent run of matches with everyone available for selection. Many of the matches have been close this season and the team was ready to put the hard yards behind them.

Ballina kicked off the match and Buccs came head on with some hard and forceful runners. Defending was the key in the first half with Buccs getting into the Ballina 22 with some strong hand-offs. Ballina though were up to the task and showed immense courage in defending. Tackling had been a weak point early in the season but not today. Every player in the line defended as if their life depended on it.

Buccs kept surging forward and recycling the ball. It was down to the within 5 metres of the line and some double tackles drove Buccs backwards forcing Buccs to commit a double movement to try and get the ball over the line. Try disallowed, Ballina had soaked up the pressure. In games past, the sheer volume of this Buccs attack would have cracked them but not today. Ballina were organised around every ruck, it was noticeable with the communication between the wings and the centres, encouraging their forwards to be in the right place every time. It was an exciting match, the coaches nails would normally have been chewed off by now but today there was an air of confidence about the players which settled the coaches nerves. The half time team talk was all about the detail and the players took it all on board.

Second half, Ballina were playing with the slight breeze behind their backs with some great ball carrying by the forwards and backs, the team had a line out on the Buccs 5 metre line. Lifting in the line outs at this age grade this year has added to the Ballina forward pack confidence and it showed when they caught Buccs by surprise with a set play straight off the training ground, hooker Mark McDermott throwing immaculately all day hit the mark and Evan Creavan storming over for a well deserved try on his return from injury, two Buccs players unable to prevent him from scoring. This left a difficult conversion from the far right hand side which just went wide. 5 v 0. The match was in the balance.

As the match progressed, Buccs kept coming at Ballina. Ballina started giving away penalties which allowed Buccs up to the Ballina 5 metre line. Ballina held out and cleared their lines. There were a few penalties on each side in the game for high tackles but this was down to enthusiasm on both sides rather than any malice. Buccs had a player yellow carded earlier in the match and then Ballina too had one yellow carded near the end of the match after a build up of penalties.

It was getting close with 3 minutes to go and Buccs had the ball at their 10 metre line and were going through the hands against Ballina's 14 players looking for the overlap to score. Ballina Captain Niall Feeney read their play and intercepted a pass in the Buccs back line and flew down the pitch and in under the posts for a fantastic try. Shea O'Donoghue converted it and the final whistle blew, 12 v 0.

Ballina u16s showed that they have developed and learned from each game this season and it showed in their confidence on and off the ball. This was a full team performance and the bench proved to be essential in the game, it is more than just a 15 player game on the pitch, every player that came on fitted seamlessly into the team. The game was played in great spirit on both sides. Players and coaches on both sides should be proud of the match. Thank you to all the parents, home and traveling for their support and thank you to the referee for a great game.