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4/10/2009
Oban lose at Loch Lomond
SHE West Div 1 Loch Lomond v Oban
Oban travelled to Bonhill for this match with a full squad of 18 plus another 2 squad members who were carrying niggling injuries but had come along to show support for their teammates. This commitment is very encouraging for the rest of the league programme and the playing squad have made great strides forwards in recent weeks by making themselves available in greater numbers for away fixtures.
The team was only slightly changed from the previous week’s win over Paisley with Andy Park starting at tighthead prop, Andy MacDougall on the left wing and Cammy Smith joining his brother in the backrow. Craig Nicholson moved forward to the second row berth for the injured Jamie MacMillan. Captain Gary MacEwan started in his more usual position of fullback.
Despite at times atrocious weather conditions on the journey down the match kicked off in bright sunshine with the men in green having the advantage of the gale force wind at their backs.
They soon had the home side under pressure with good tactical kicks to the corners and Lomond were also guilty of putting hands in the rucks which gave Robert Wright the chance to slot over the opening penalty after 15minutes. Thereafter Oban had 4 or 5 penalty chances in their opponents 22 but elected to run each of them. Despite some barnstorming forward runs by Louw, MacDougall and Robin MacQueen which all came close to scoring the Lomond defence was very effective and held their line. Having weathered the green tide the home team then managed to break up field and from the resulting lineout scored a try through their stand off for a 7-3 score very much against the run of play. They inflicted further pain when Oban were once again pressing to score by fly hacking a dropped pass upfield and again their stand off was on hand to chase and score and unconverted try. Oban continued to have at least the territorial advantage and finally made the breakthrough with Andy MacDougall scoring a try from a close range scrum to give a halftime score of 12-10.
With the elements now in their favour Lomond predictably kept open pinned in their own 22. Scores were hard to come by although Oban did themselves no favours by repeatedly infringing at the rucks to give Lomond some scoring opportunities. There was no need for Oban to do this as the home team did not look like scoring a try so it was poor discipline and decision making that hampered the team’s efforts. Two penalty kicks by Lomond were the only scoring of this half until almost on fulltime a sweeping blindside move gave the home team a try and a final score of 25-10. From an Oban perspective this was a very frustrating match as almost nothing came off for the team and despite plenty of effort too often passes went astray causing moves to breakdown. Lomond were well drilled and had a very well organized swarm defence, they also preferred to maul at every opportunity which tied up the forward pack’s efforts for long periods. By taking the ball into contact too often instead of looking to create space, Oban effectively played into Lomond’s hands. Despite the efforts of the back row and Ewan Wilson at scrum half to break upfield, ultimately the game was lost in the first half when Oban were unable to convert 20minutes of sustained pressure into points. This result leaves Oban in mid table and they now face league leaders Cumbernauld in what will be the biggest challenge of the season so far. If the team step up their efforts in training and follows coach Corrie Louw’s game plan instructions then the results will start to come both home and away.
Oban Lorne Squad. M.Downie , R.MacQueen, A. Park, D.Hunter, C.Nicholson, C.Smith, S, Smith, C.Louw, E.Wilson, R.Wright, A.Wright, C.MacDonald, M.MacQueen, A.MacDougall, G.MacEwan ( c ), T.Smith, G. MacLeish, C.Thomson
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