Scrappy win for Green Machine

Oban Lorne 21 Garioch 7

OBAN Lorne played their first pre-season fixture last Saturday taking part in a scrappy win over Caledonia Division 2 side Garioch RFC.

The Green Machine fielded some new faces in the starting lineup, including Frenchman Rudolphe Bertrand at stand off and Italian Alessandro Franzo at inside centre.

Oban were missing some key players for the match, with Coach Corrie Louw and second row Lorne MacLachlan out due to injury, while Dave McCabe, Jack Baxter, Cameron Smith and Struan Smith missed out due to work commitments.

Garioch were to provide a tough test for Oban Lorne as the visitors were coached by former Glasgow Warrior professional player Stuart Corsar. The Caledonia Division 2 side are looking for a promotion chasing season in their league this season.

Referee Willie Malone signalled the start of the first of four 20-minute periods of play that would give the opposing coaches more of a chance to reflect and make changes on the match as it progressed.

Garioch made a strong start to the match and found themselves camped in the Oban 22 for the first 10 minutes of the game. Oban were without use of their usual dominant scrum, with the scrummages being uncontested due to the visitors not having sufficient front row numbers.

Oban eventually cleared and gained some promising possession near the tryline. A series of short plays around the base of the ruck resulted in no 8 Daniel Broderick going over from close range for the first try of the afternoon. This was converted by scrum half Finlay Carmichael for a 7- 0 Oban lead.

The home side took confidence from this and again gained some good field position with a clever kick from Stand Off Bertrand. Oban stole the ball at the resulting lineout and scored the second try of the afternoon. A second Carmichael conversion extended the score to 14- 0 before the end of the first quarter.

Both sides played out an uneventful second 20 minutes to the game with each team failing to create any notable attacking phases of play.

Garioch hit back into the second half with their only try of the game. Oban regained a 14 point lead in the last 10 minutes thanks to prop Tommy Sutherland scoring a trademark try from two metres out to make the fnal score 21-7

This Saturday both Oban Lorne and Argyll and Bute travel to Dundee to take on Harris Academy and Panmure.

Oban Lorne open their league campaign on Saturday August 27 at home to East Kilbride.