Corinthians 64

Buccaneers 0

By John Mulligan

Corinthians bounced back from their recent blip in form with a comprehensive and comfortable win over Buccaneers on Friday night in Corinthian Park.

On a night when the club held its Christmas party, there were plenty of presents handed out by the visitors to their hosts, but Corinthians also were Scrooge-like with the defence giving nothing away in a game that was all but decided by half-time.

Corinthians went into the gamer of the back of consecutive defeats, but Buccaneers have been having a torrid time, losing all eight of their games ahead of Friday’s meeting. It did not get any better for them after five minutes when Max Holmes crossed over for the home side’s first of the night after a line out was driven over with Sean Naughton accurate with the conversion.

The home side extended their lead after just 12 minutes, with Jack Boylan crossing the whitewash after another lineout was driven over. Buccaneers were not helped by some basic errors which handed possession back on several occasions, and one such error led to try number three.

A Buccaneers lineout was stolen by the outstanding Bryan Walsh with Joey Tierney collecting and following a slow patient build-up, Sean Naughton sent a cross-field straight into the hands of Rory King, who offloaded to Orin Burke for the try.

The bonus point was secured by the half hour. With the opposition crumbling, Naughton collected the pass from Tierney and almost walked his way in following a dummy that caught the opposition backline cold.

It would be fair to say he will not get an easier try this season, but it was clear that even at this early stage of the game, Buccaneers had nearly given up the ghost. However, they would steady the ship to half time with Corinthians leading by 24-points at the break.

Pictured: Max Holmes bagged a hat-trick for Corinthians in their hammering of Buccaneers.