Pirates Prevail Against Lewes

Cobh Pirates Women recorded an emphatic 24-10 victory over touring English-side Lewes RFC ladies at The Paddocks, Cobh on Sunday.

Cobh Pirates 24-10 Lewes

Courtesy of:- Richie McGrath

The match, part of a series of events to mark Cobh Pirates' 125^th year, was the first time that Pirates hosted an overseas women’s side.

Players from Bandon, Midleton, Highfield, Fermoy and Balbriggan were invited in to join the Pirates and Lewes sides for the match, including Irish international Heather O’Brien and current and former Munster players Amy Desmond, Leah Lyons and Deirdre Lynch.

Pirates' captain Sue Morgan got the match underway with the kick off into a strong breeze. Lewes immediately secured possession and started to build the phases, ensuring Pirates saw little possession for the first seven or eight minute.

Despite the possession, Lewes we unable to unlock a solid Pirates defence. When Pirates eventually secured possession, their forwards started to build some phases with strong carries by Highfield’s Deirdre Lynch and Bandon’s Catriona O’Donovan, before scrum half Sam Byrne released the ball out to the backs through out-half Ang Britton, allowing inside centre Claire Keogh to cut through the Lewes line before offloading to Manuela Riveros Huckstadt, who crossed for Pirates first try on 12 minutes. Spanish native, Manuela joined Pirates last September, having never played rugby previously.

A number of changes were made on the 20 minute mark, including the introduction of Balbriggan’s Anne O’Brien in place of Midleton’s Rachel Davis in the second row and within the space of two minutes Anne unlocked the Lewes defence before sprinting 30 meters to score Pirates' second. Bandon’s Eileen Foley was successful with the conversion to leave the score 12-0.

Shortly before half-time, inside centre Claire Keogh was to put her name on the scoresheet with a well worked try, also converted by Eileen Foley to leave the half time score 19-0. Further changes were made during the half-time break, with Fermoy and Munster prop Leah Lyons and Bandon’s Aoife O’Sullivan, who both played with Lewes for the first half, coming over to the Pirates and centre Manuela along with winger Eilish Foley switching onto the Lewes side.

Pirates failed to react to the short kick off by Lewes at the start of the second half and Lewes built a number of phases to quickly reach the Pirates 22. Referee Bobby Anglim pinged Pirates a number of times for ruck infringements, which ultimately saw Pirates having to defend their line. Through successive phases, Lewes created an overlap allowing scrum half Hannah Fosbraey to cross for Lewes' first try.

Pirates quickly turned over possession after the restart and stormed into the Lewes 22. Pirates were unlucky not to score, with Bandon’s Eileen Foley being held up over the line after Pirates formed a powerful maul in open play and a second attempt through a tap and go penalty by Pirate Prop Chloe McCarthy was turned over by Lewes in the ruck. With Lewes clearing their lines to touch, Balbriggan’s Emir O’Brien was on hand to secure possession in the line out, and the ball quickly found the hands of Pirates winger Rachel O’Connor who went on a blistering run to cross for Pirates' fourth try.

With the match entering the final 10 minutes, Ireland international Heather O’Brien and Munster’s Amy Desmond joined the Lewes side. Pirates were to withstand significant pressure for the remaining minutes, before Heather crossed for Lewes’ second try on the stroke of full time. Final score Cobh Pirates 24-10 Lewes.

Cobh Pirates: 15 Aisling O’Sullivan (Bandon), 14 Jill Mahony (Pirates), 13 Manuela Riveros Huckstadt (Pirates), 12 Claire Keogh (Pirates), 11 Eilish Foley (Pirates), 10 Ang Britton (Pirates), 9 Samantha Byrne (Pirates), 1 Suzanne Morgan (Pirates)(Captain), 2 Kelly Sexton (Pirates), 3 Chloe McCarthy (Pirates), 4 Rachel Davis (Midleton), 5 Catriona O’Donnovan (Bandon), 6 Emir O’Brien (Balbriggan), 7 Deirdre Lynch (Highfield), 8 Eileen Foley (Bandon). Replacements: 16 Orla Hickey (Bandon), 17 Leah Lyons (Fermoy), 18 Emily Crowley (Bandon), 19 Anne O’Brien (Balbriggan), 20 Tricia O’Donovan (Pirates), 21 Aoife O’Sullivan (Bandon), 22 Rachel O’Connor (Pirates)

Lewes: 15 Sam Williams, 14 Cat O’Sullivan, 13 Dani Flower, 12 Robynne Keen, 11 Jen Laing, 10 Sophie Kelland, 9 Hannah Fosbraey, 1 Nem Hoare (Captain) , 2 Pip Young, 3 Aimee Day, 4 Rab Willis, 5 Justine Robinson, 6 Tanya Richardson, 7 Jess Sutcliffe, 8 Indea Cadman-Rivers. Replacements: 16 Rachel Wensley, 17 Anita Hilman, 18 Sadie Graham, 19 Irene Morgan, 20 Ali Hannon.

Referee: Bobby Anglim (MAR)

Touch Judges: Muiris Mahon (MAR), Nichola Power.