On a fine Saturday afternoon in late April the mighty Buccs & Sheffield RUFC met at Old Rishworthians to play in the Yorkshire & North East Premiership final to determine who would be crowned Champions and the best second team in the region. Sheffield have been league leaders all season having only lost one game in the league and that loss coming at the hands of the Buccs at Brantingham Park however when the Buccs travelled to Sheffield in March they were given a bit of pasting losing 42 - 14. The Buccs squad however went into the game confident after a fantastic victory against Tynedale in the semis.

The first ten minutes of the match was all the Buccs who were battering the Sheffield defence and Sheffield couldn’t get out of their 22! When they did, they kicked it out on the full and allowed the well functioning Buccs line out to attack at them again but then totally against the run of play the powerful Sheffield number 8 made a surging run, tackles were missed and the ball reached their powerful winger who scored in the corner! Conversion missed 0 - 5. From the restart fly half Sam Hassard put up a peach of drop kick and the Sheffield player who caught the ball was absolutely clattered by the Buccs flanker’s Luke Mackay & Jack Pinder the ball was dropped and the Buccs started to play! After a powerful run into the middle of the Sheffield 22 by skipper Pete McGlynn, Sheffield were penalised for not rolling away! The Buccs kicked to the corner and from a brilliant catch and drive, scrum half Alex Edwards dotted down at the back of the driving maul! Hassard slotting the conversion from out wide 7 - 5 the Buccs. Then for the next 30 minutes it was all Sheffield, the Buccs couldn’t get out their half, they weren’t using their kicking game and they were missing tackles and Sheffield capitalised scoring two converted tries to take the score to 7 - 19. With a few moments left of the half Hassard slotted a penalty to take the score to 10 - 19 and the ref blew for half time.

The halftime talk was about utilising our kicking game, putting the struggling Sheffield line-out under pressure, keeping hold of the ball and building some phases. Substitutions were made with a plan of fresh legs giving us some go forward

Sheffield restarted and put a high dropping kick on Charlie Allenby who caught the ball beautifully and carried hard into the Sheffield pack, a few more drives and the Buccs were up to the half way line, the ball was then shipped out to the blindside and into the hands of powerful speedster winger Jeremy Oboh who bumped off the first tackler, then proceeded to go round one defender and pinned his ears back and went for the corner and then a last moment stepped his man and dived over to score! Hassard converting again from out wide 17 - 19 and all to play for! But this Sheffield team are a quality outfit and went back to dominating play with their number 8 & outside centre leading the charge with more powerful runs! From another good run they shipped the ball out wide and crashed over in the corner with a fine conversion by their talented fly half! 17 - 26! The Buccs looked shellshocked especially after the Oboh try had given them early hope and when Sheffield went over again with a converted try to take the score to 17 - 33 there was comments on the old Ionians colts WhatsApp group “that today wasn’t our day”. However the question that had been asked before kickoff “was how much do want it, how much do you want it when you’re tired and knackered, are you willing to fight for every inch?” More substations were added in Benn Wilson & Brad Parker who made an immediate impact and from the dugout it was noted Sheffield were starting to look tired with players going down with cramp and not being so visible around the park. From another good break by Oboh up the blindside the ball was shipped back wide and with Hassard & centre Charlie Cook acting as two play makers the ball was put into outside centre James Couttie hands who as ever ran a peach of a line, broke the tackle and went over! Hassard converting again 24 - 33! The final substitute of the day was Riff Rizvi and wow what an impact that young man decided to make! Sheffield kicked high and short and once again into Allenby’s hands! The Buccs knowing they had at best five minutes left to play were throwing everything at Sheffield, somehow the ball ended up in Brads Parker’s hands and he went on a jinking, nuggety run like he does taking the Buccs to Sheffield’s 22! From there it was wave after wave of Buccs attack getting closer and closer to the Sheffield line, Sheffield were dead on their feet and after another wave of Buccs power play the ball ended up in Benn Wilson’s arms and he crashed over the to score!! Hassard converting 31 - 33 and the ref informed both teams three minutes to go! Again for reasons only known to them Sheffield kicked to Allenby! He caught it, was smashed backwards but held onto the ball! The Buccs knew they had to play ball, so they just started to chance their arm! It was their only hope, it was going to take a collective effort or a moment of genius! The ball went left, the ball went right, trying to find a chink in Sheffield’s defence! The ball reached Alfie Celella who went on a wavy run until he fed it out to Oboh who went sprinting for the corner but was well covered and his out the back pass as he was marshalled into touch dropped to the ground and rolled into touch! Sheffield line out!!! Could the Buccs steal it back??? They could not and Sheffield brought the ball back down safely! Sheffield then decided their best option would be to wind the clock down using a series of pick and goes and forward carries in their own 22! Which in theory was a good plan but not such a good plan when you’re already knackered and two minutes of picking and going is a long time! After a number of carries, Sheffield were becoming more separated from each other and like he’s done all season Parker went in for the steal just as their scrum half lifted it to pass he came up and over the ruck and stole the ball!! The Buccs had the ball!! The ball was shifted across the back line at ridiculous speed and a long drifted ball hit winger Rizvi just inside the Sheffield 22! He leaped in the air, caught it on the full and went sprinting down the touchline and dived into the corner with the Sheffield winger clattering into him but made sure he dotted down!!! Another superb touchline conversion from Hassard 38 - 33!!! Utter bedlam in the dugout, utter bedlam from the travelling supporters & thirty seconds left to play! Sheffield kicked high & short and again Allenby took the restart, the ball was passed out to old warhorse Alley Forth who carried the ball in and flopped to the deck hoping one secure ruck meant any of the back line could kick the ball dead! But disaster struck, Sheffield sent five men into the ruck and smashed the Buccs backwards and stole the ball and shipped it out wide to their winger who went flying into the corner! Everyone watching was in agony were Sheffield going to take the game to 38 all with the kick to win it???? Not if Mohamed rifath Mohamed Rizvi had something to do with it! He smashed into the winger midair and somehow flipped him on his back in the process of him trying to touch down! Ref got there, looked at both players body positions and shouted “held up, no try” then blew his whistle!

Game over!! They’d done it!! They’d only gone a bloody done it! The Hull Ionians Buccaneers, a team that nearly folded two years ago and was relegated from this league that same year were now league champions!! It’s quite frankly one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the club’s history and the first time the Buccs had won the premiership league in over twenty years!

This team is a wonderful set of young men, who’ve bought into a dream and a vision of where they could go! League champions is what they all deserve!

MOTM - Pete McGlynn - inspirational skipper all game
MOTM - Riff Rizvi - for the most inspiring cameo performance you’ve ever seen

Up the Buccs