Yamba Rugby Club has hosted a massive day of rugby union with six games taking place in once again wet conditions on Saturday.
The early games saw Nudgee College taking on Far North Coast in a range of junior age groups and it was terrific to see some of our younger Buccaneers representing the region against the well-polished Nudgee teams. The junior rep games were played in good spirit and in front of a big crowds with many supporters travelling down from Brisbane to view what will hopefully be a long-term arrangement.
After a number of false starts the Under 18’s Buccaneers had their first outing for the season with a convincing 40-5 win against the Ballina Barbarians. The young Buccaneers had a scrappy start to the match which required them to display staunch tryline defence, but they soon found success through pick and drive rugby in the wet conditions. This laid the platform for better field position and more expansive rugby which they were soon able to convert into tries. Captain Mannix Meade made his mark on the game scoring a couple of barnstorming tries and being voted players player while Cohen Foster and Jimmy Hammond were also very strong on the day as well, scrum half Jackson Taylor also showed great promise in his new position.
This is the first under 18’s team the Yamba Rugby Club have ever fielded, so the early success is very encouraging and is a testament to the growing base of junior Buccaneers and volunteers.
In the senior’s game the Buccaneers were once again valiant in defeat going down 24-10 to Wollongbar Pioneers. After looking thin on numbers earlier in the week there was a number of familiar faces return to put up a strong showing against an opposition that is often the competitions benchmark. The Pioneers controlled a lot of the first half through their astute kicking game and well drilled backline, but Yamba showed great tenacity in defence to only be down 0-5 at half time. Wollongbar stretched their lead to seventeen points in the second half but with two quick tries the Buccaneers were well positioned to pull off a significant upset, however, it wasn’t to be with Wollongbar sealing the match with a final converted try in the dying minutes. Unfortunately, the game was marred by a significant leg injury to the Buccaneers English import Sam Berry (players player) who everyone wishes a speedy recovery. Three points went to Cody O’Neil who was in everything on the day, 2 points to the versatile Rob Tierney and 1 point to ever reliable Thomas Mather.
Next week sees the Yamba Buccaneers Seniors travelling to Ballina to challenge the Seahorses and hopefully capture their first win, the next home game is on June 15 against Casuarina.
Tickets are also available for Ladies day which will be hosted on June 22 when Yamba take on the Evans River Killer Whales. For information or tickets to what is always an enjoyable afternoon simply email yambabuccaneers@hotmail.com.