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31/3/2010
Obermory U-15's lose to Linlithgow in Bowl Semi Final
Linlithgow Academy U-15 (31) Obermory U-15 (22)
The Obermory team came very close to making a second succesive Bowl semi final when losing to Linlithgow away from home. Linlithgow will now face last season winners Earlston.
Match report courtesy of David Mitchell:
The Reds welcomed the visitors from Oban/Tobermory to Mains Park on Friday afternoon for the semi final of the National Plate competition. The home team have only had 1 full game since the end of November due to the winter weather but they started very brightly and Gregor T had their 1st try on the board within 5 minutes after some strong forward play.
The visitors were taking some time to get the journey ‘out of their legs’ and the Reds took full advantage. Lewis ghosted over from a breakdown near to the posts and Jack added the conversion. The best try of the half was scored by Ally following great link play between backs and forwards covering almost half of the length of the pitch.
At 17-0 down, the visitors could have been demoralised but they began to play with real spirit and their big players started running hard and straight at the home defence. This resulted in the visitors scoring 2 unconverted tries following some weak tackling and perhaps a loss of concentration by the Reds. (Half time 17-10)
Obermoray started the 2nd half well and were camped in the home side’s 22 metre area for the first 10 minutes but were unable to score as the Reds improved their tackling and stopped the visitors on a number of occasions. Just as it looked like the visitors would score, the Reds broke away and after some great pressure in midfield, Lewis again found himself in the clear and he scored a try under the posts. Jack converted to take the score to 24-10 and this more comfortable lead boosted the home team and they raised their game and competed very well all over the field.
The game was effectively won with a fine sole try by Finlay. He hoisted a huge kick from inside his own half of the field and when the visitors’ full back failed to catch it, it bounced kindly for him and he gathered his own kick and fought his way to the line for a great captain’s try. Jack added the conversion to make the score 31-10.
The Reds obviously thought that the game was won and took their ‘foot off the gas’ and the Obermory boys added two more tries in the last 5 minutes, one of which was converted to make the final score 31-22. Overall the Reds played very well in patches but they need to be aware of the dangers of letting the opposition back into games through a combination of lack of concentration and poor tackling. However they did overcome a certain amount of ring rustiness and at times played some great rugby, a feature being the good communication and support play in attack.
Special thanks should go to local club member Ken Richardson who took the time to referee the game on a Friday afternoon. The details of the final are not known yet but hopefully the venue will be fairly local. The boys have done very well to get to a national final and let’s hope that there will be a big turnout of staff, parents and rugby club members to support them as they attempt to bring the silverware back to Linlithgow.
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