Winter arrived in spectacular style last Friday night as the Colts U13 squad opened their Connacht league campaign with a hard fought win over the hosts in a rain sodden Athlone.

The Colts made the brighter start and were starting to find gaps in the Buccaneers defence. The Colts attack clearly had their homework done and were managing to move the ball at pace despite the avalanche of rain the continued to fall right throughout the first half  It was through scrum half Dylan Morris that the Colts breakthrough came as he found space after good work by his teammates to touch down under posts.  Out-half Kyle Leonard confidently knocked over the conversion to give his side a 7-0 lead after 12 minutes of wet and windy action.

It didn’t take the Colts long to double their try count as their dominance was rewarded with a team try. From an attacking scrum Joe Lydon raced down the touchline before feeding the onrushing Patrick Kirrane his good play saw the ball go through a number of Colts hands which allowed Peter Cunningham to power off in the corner. Although the conversion was missed the Colts had a healthy 12-0 lead which they defended expertly until half-time. They worked the defensive plays expertly and twice held up the Buccaneers attack up at they attempted to touchdown.

Again the Colts made the better start to the half but unlike the first half they couldn’t make the dominance count on the scoreboard. Back came Buccaneers but they just couldn’t break an excellent Colts defence as they recorded a fine 12-0 win.

There was some excellent rugby played with both teams having tough weather conditions to contend with. The game was also noticeable for some excellent Colts tackling and defensive play with all 24 players doing their bit when called upon. Those who displayed these traits best of all were Cian Quinn, Dylan Morris, Peter Cunningham and Kyle Leonard. The next game for the Colts is a home game against Sligo RFC on Saturday November 1st.

Colts Squad: T Kean, J Lydon, P Kirrane, C Joyce, A Vahey, K Leonard, D Morris, A Conway, C Toughey, M Merrick, P Cunningham, D Nevin, C Quinn, M Vahey, L Byrnes, J Connaughton, L Halligan, S Halligan, S Hession, M Kelly, C Kennedy, C Kilcullen, C Phillips, M Pilbrow, E Prendergast, S Thornton