Ballymena's reservations about having to field without a posse of their established players were eventually smoothed away when they powered to an impressive victory at Eaton Park on Saturday.

Ballymena's rucking and mauling kept Buccaneers subdued and a clever link between forwards and backs paved the way for a Paul McBride try in the 13th minute. Buccs did pep up and in the 36th minute Colm Glynn pumped over his second penalty to clip Ballymena's lead to 8-6.

Ballymena took control of the match early in the second half. In the 43rd minute the re-invigorated Stanley McDowell climaxed a fine move by streaking in for a try and five minutes later Andrew Maxwell sprinted in for a try which McIntosh converted to give Ballymena a solid 20-6 platform.

Buccaneers came close to breaching the home cover on several occasions but Ballymena restricted them to a 61st minute penalty from Glynn and then responded with a further McIntosh penalty on 72 minute.

Scoring Sequence: 2 mins: P McIntosh pen 3-0; 5 mins: Glynn pen 3-3; 13 mins: P McBride try 8-3; 36 mins: Glynn pen 8-6; 43 mins: S McDowell try 13-6; 48 mins: Maxwell try, McIntosh con 20-6; 61 mins: Glynn pen 20-9; 72 mins: McIntosh pen 23-9