Comfortable win for Green Machine

Oban Lorne 1st XV got off to a brilliant start to the 2018/19 league season on Saturday, with a comfortable 36–6 bonus point win against Cumbernauld. The men in green kicked off with confidence after a positive pre-season of testing training sessions in the build up to the league. The starting line up saw three 1st caps for Oban Lorne; Number eight Owen McDonald, back row Lorne Sinclair and David Cameron on the wing. Sinclair and Cameron are both products of Oban High School’s School of Rugby programme.

Oban pinned Cumbernauld back from the off, with immense pressure from the kick-off, and good attacking play. Finlay Carmichael put captain Iwan Roberts into a gap in the Cumbernauld backline from the first set piece of the game, and the ball was kicked in to the corner, putting pressure on the visitors to try and exit their 22. Cumbernauld struggled to get up the pitch and Oban were awarded with a penalty 25 metres out for holding on in the ruck. Carmichael com- fortably slotted it over for the first points of the game.

The following 10 minutes saw many breaks in play, with ill discipline from Oban Lorne making it hard for themselves to settle into the game. They were straying offside far too often; an area the team and coaches will be working on improving in training. The first try came somewhat out of the blue, with Craig Wright dancing his way past several defenders sideways across the pitch, and scored under the posts. Carmichael converted. The game continued as it was, with Oban Lorne’s over eagerness at the breakdown costing them six points in 10 minutes, with two penalties awarded to Cumbernauld for offsides.

It was Oban’s turn with the ball for the rest of the first half, with some structured attacking play resulting in Cumbernauld defending on their try line. Scrum half Vasil Borisov forced his way through a small gap to score, which was converted by Carmichael. Oban were up 17–6 at the half-time whistle.

Oban scored a try early on in the second half, with some individual brilliance by full back Craig Wright. Cumbernauld cleared their lines with a big kick up field, which Wright collected in his own half and beat all defenders on the outside, who couldn’t match his electric pace. Wright then chipped the ball over the Cumbernauld full back, and collected the ball to score near the corner.

The next 15 minutes was Cumbernauld’s turn to attack. For almost 10 minutes, the Oban forwards put in a massive defensive effort on their own try line, and were eventually awarded a penalty which was celebrated more than any try in the match. The next try came from an impressive team effort and a number of phases, ending with Owen McDonald receiving the ball from a Carmichael missed pass, and running 20m to score on his debut.

The rest of the game was again quite broken, with turnovers at the line-outs frustrating the home side.

Prop Callum MacLachlan was terrorising the Cumbernauld defence with powerful runs, and good support play by the likes of second row Eric Roberts and vice captain Stephen Povey resulted in some great phases of attacking rugby. The final try was in last play and was another brilliant team try. Prop Corrie Louw threw a textbook scrum half pass out wide to Wright, who drew in a defender to create a two on one releasing centre Iwan Roberts with only the full back to beat. Andrew Ritchie timed his support run to perfection and received the ball from Roberts to run in 50m for the try.

The men in green were delighted to start their season with a bonus point win, and will be looking to take the confidence and winning mentality into next week’s away game in Paisley. Saturday’s result means the team lie in third position, joint top of the table along with Uddingston, Lenzie, Paisley and Bishopton, who all recorded bonus point wins. This week’s opponents Paisley narrowly missed out on promotion last season and will be a tough test as they also had a good start to the league with a 34-23 win away to Wigtownshire. Kick off on Saturday is at 3pm.

Oban Lorne’s next home fixture is on Saturday September 29 as the club welcomes Dalziel RFC from Motherwell to Glencruitten for the quarter final of the West Regional Shield. Kick off on the 29th is at 3pm