‘One Or Two Lads Were Crying’ – Buccs Boss Claasen On Ending Their Long Losing Streak

For Buccaneers that silence had lasted far too long. Thirty Energia All-Ireland League games without a win. A stretch that began in the latter stages of the 2023/24 campaign, carried through a relegation from Division 1B, and lingered across another full season in 2A where every weekend brought the same empty return.

When the new season began, the losing streak was extended by three more defeats, this time in Division 2B. That is where it could have stayed, a club adrift in its own history, burdened by the weight of its decline.

But last weekend in Enniscorthy, something shifted. After what felt like an eternity, Buccaneers finally won again. A 29-21 victory that carried more than the five league points – it carried release, relief, and redemption.

For head coach Darin Claasen (pictured below in the middle), a man who has seen the highs and lows of Buccaneers rugby more closely than most, it was the culmination of months of quiet rebuilding, of trying to coax belief from the ashes of disappointment.

“What I said to some of the management afterwards, you actually have got to respect and take your hat off to guys who came back this season,” he told IrishRugby.ie.

“If you’re playing sports, you want to win and having not won since December 2023, then to even come back this year and to try and be positive, and the big work this season was just trying to change the mindset and create that belief.”

That belief had been tested to breaking point. Players had drifted away. Confidence had drained. For those who stayed, turning up every week without the reward of victory took a kind of courage most sports stories overlook.

“But when you actually get that win like we did, it was for the lads because it’s a monkey off the back. One or two lads were crying after the game.

“One lad who’s played 21 AIL games, it’s his first win. So in that context, it’s huge. Obviously that’s not the goal. We need to work hard this week and make sure we keep building on that now.”

For Claasen, this is not just another coaching project. This is personal. The South African has lived and breathed Irish club rugby for more than two decades, arriving in 2003 for what was meant to be short enough stay.

“The initial plan was just eight months,” he laughs. “But when I did get here, someone told me it’s a black hole and once you come in, you don’t leave. I really enjoyed it.

“It was very different to where I came from at home playing in Cape Town. Obviously Castlebar, the junior rugby wasn’t at the same standard but at the same time, I really enjoyed it and probably did a huge amount for confidence.”

From those early days in Mayo, his journey took him through Young Munster in Limerick, Corinthians in Galway, before Athlone soon became home many miles away from his native land.

Claasen is well respected in the coaching sphere, a coaching career where his technical acumen, calm authority, and understanding of player development began to mark him out.

This is not his first spell at Buccaneers, the last one saw the Athlone-based club promoted from Division 1B to the All-Ireland League’s top flight, along with Connacht League and Cup crowns. More recently, he guided the Pirates’ Under-20s to their first ever JP Fanagan Premier 2 League title.

So when Buccaneers were on the search for a new senior Men’s head coach this summer, the decision to put his name in the hat was not simple.

“No, to be honest it wasn’t, because I had been enjoying my time with the Under-20s. We had a good group of young lads, we made a bit of history, won the Leinster League (JP Fanagan Premier 2) for the first time.

“So, I was enjoying that and you’re always hesitant to jump into something if you’re not quite sure what the dynamics are like.

“But then after meeting my management and Tommy Conlon, who obviously was with me last time I was senior coach, we realised that some of the 20s that we were working with last year could step up.

“That is what we’ve done, it wasn’t an easy decision. But once we got into it, it’s something that I’m enjoying. Obviously I was aware of this huge challenge.

“But at the same time, there’s a good group of lads who are really keen to work hard and try and rewrite how their journey with Buccs is going.

“It hasn’t been easy, and I think last Saturday for myself personally, it was just a relief to get that first one and then just really happy for the lads because they’re working hard and you’ve just got to get a result now and then to make sure you keep working.

“Otherwise, you can’t expect lads to buy into what you’re trying to do and stay motivated if you’re not getting a result, because there’s definitely a good group of young lads that have come through.”

It was tough for Claasen to see a club that were looking to push on at the top tier of the competition slowly drop down the divisions in recent years.

When he returned to the senior coaching ticket, he found a set-up that had lost not just games, but confidence, discipline, and direction. The first task was not about tactics or structure, it was about standards.

“Watching them go down, it’s always hard because you get to know them, the lads personally, but then over time that squad changes a lot. It’s so difficult because you don’t know what’s going on inside camp,” he admitted.

“You don’t know how hard they’re working or what the team culture is like and the dynamic is like. When we came in this year, we really focused on just trying to draw a line in the sand and saying, ‘Let’s listen to what went wrong last year and then sort of set new standards’.

“But the big thing is trying to make sure we keep changing things and do keep that line drawn in the sand. We can’t keep referring to mistakes and issues from last year.

“The guys have done that from the smallest detail in discipline. No one’s been late for a meeting, no one’s been late for the bus, no one’s been late for training and that’s where it starts.”

That might sound like the basics, but for a group that had been through a lot of hardship, stripping it all back and starting from scratch certainly was a great starting point.

Claasen continued: “Everyone’s keen to sort of develop and have a growth mindset. That was one of the big things I asked for at the start of the season when we had our pre-season chat, willing to work, willing to learn, and in fairness they have.

“I think the culture has changed in terms of what they’re willing to put in. You can even see the numbers. I think last year they were struggling numbers-wise.

“This year there’s some nights where we’ve got 50, 52 guys training, which is brilliant because the guys are coming back out and they’re trying to get involved.”

That surge in numbers, that sense of renewed energy, has not come from nowhere. It has come from a collective decision to start again, including those players who could have walked away but decided not to.

“You’ve actually got to respect the lads that have been having conversations since pre-season, making sure they’re coming back.

“There were a few guys and important guys that were thinking of not playing just because of two years of real hardship. You’ve got to respect them for coming in and sticking at it.

“In fairness, they’ve all worked really hard, so for them to have tears in their eyes after the game, it just shows you how much it means to them.”

The moment the final whistle blew at Enniscorthy’s Alcast Park, there was no explosion of triumph, just raw emotion. The win, though, is not the destination. It is the start of something that has to be built on carefully, week by week.

Navan are on the agenda for Buccs this Saturday afternoon, with a 2.30pm kick-off at Dubarry Park, and the hope now will be that the squad can turn the tide in their favour for the rest of the season.

“One win isn’t enough and that’s not the goal,” Claasen insisted. “Our goal as a coaching group is to push harder this week in terms of training. Like anything, winning is a habit.

“The focus this week is to work harder because you don’t want the guys to get complacent, you want to use that as a foundation. That’s the stepping stone and now we’ve got to keep improving on that.”

What stands them in good stead is the amount of young players coming through the ranks at Buccaneers, from Marist College and other local schools. Turning their potential into progress on the pitch depends on keeping those players connected to the club.

“There’s so much young talent within the club. There’s a couple of guys in that (Ireland) Under-18 set-up this weekend in Italy. Last year we had Andrew Henson, we had Leo Anic, there’s always youngsters coming through.

“But the challenge is holding onto them naturally, because they go to college in Galway and Dublin and wherever. It becomes easier to hold onto players when you’re performing well and you’re playing at a decent level.

“That’s why I think this year Buccs are starting to build that momentum. Start getting good results. Like last year, we did with the 20s. Everyone enjoys sports when they’re winning.

“Then those lads will want to stay involved because there’s a winning culture, they’re in a good environment. And besides from winning, they feel that they’re developing. The quality of coaching they’re getting can help them develop as rugby players.”

It is a cycle that club rugby depends on – nurture, progress, retain, repeat. Claasen’s coaching style is rooted in player development, mindset, and building a strong team culture.

The South African has also made a significant impact promoting youth and girls rugby across Athlone through schools and club level programmes.

With their blend of promising youth and senior experience, Buccaneers are now trying to restore that rhythm. Players like Paddy Egan, Niall Tallon, and Thomas Cotton, once under Claasen’s guidance at U-20 level, have made the step up to AIL rugby.

In many ways, the story of Buccaneers’ 30-game losing streak is not one of failure but of endurance. A team that refused to give in, that continued to train and play, to travel the country and represent their club despite every setback.

It is easy to write about success, and the club has had that in the past. It is harder to understand what it takes to keep showing up without it. That is where Buccaneers’ quiet pride lies.

Now, maybe something new has begun. A sense that the long shadow has lifted. Claasen knows as well as anyone how fragile early momentum can be, but he also knows that culture does not grow on a scoreboard, it grows in the small things, the punctuality, the attitude, the shared work.

Maybe that is why this elusive win, a small line in a long season, matters so much. For the players who wept after the final whistle in Wexford, it was the end of something heavy and the start of something that might yet grow.

“And those are the lads that it meant a huge amount to. In sport you always talk about the right environment and the culture, and I think developing that is as important as the technical side that you’re doing in training.

“It’s something really hard to work on, part of pre-season and training and all the small little things you do in training to build that sort of brotherhood.

“But at the end of the day, the big thing that builds it is when you start winning. So we’ve got a few new lads that came in, and (we) just chatted to them last weekend, asking how they’re finding it. One guy played in the UK last year.

“He said you can’t compare it. He’s absolutely loving his time here – the lads, the environment, the whole set-up – which is what you like to hear because at the end of the day, if you don’t have that right, it’s very difficult to stick at it when the game gets tough,” he added.

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