Lochaber brush aside Moffat to claim first victory of the season
Lochaber secured victory on the opening match of the league season after a tricky away encounter against Moffat on Saturday.
After winning away in the same fixture at the end of last season with only 14 men for the majority of the game, Lochaber were confident of getting the season off to a good start.
Lochaber wasted no time getting on the scoreboard when number 10 Scottie Diack broke the line. He still had plenty of work to do and had lots of support around him but with some evasive running he made his way under the posts leaving Jonathan McCook an easy conversion for the extra two points.
Moffat looked to hit back and after sustained pressure their scrum half got them on the board with a penalty kick. Lochaber soon hit back, however, and got a second try after the defence won a penalty in their own half.
McCook got them up to the half way line and from the resulting line-out Diack, Boyd and McCook tore through Moffat’s defence before McCook threw a long pass to winger John Jones who flew in for a try in the corner.
Moffat continued to push for another score and their pressure paid off when they got their first try of the game to make it 12-8 at the break.
In the second half Lochaber were not making things easy for themselves, giving away several penalties for silly mistakes. But it was Lochaber who scored next after McCook burst through a tackle 20 metres out then sprinted to the try line. He then converted his own try.
In a mirror image of last season’s game, Moffat were awarded their second after it appeared Jack Ringland and William Stewart had tackled the Moffat winger into touch. Lochaber were able to secure the victory with a fourth try and a bonus point after substitute Andrew Bell, making his first appearance for the club, hit the line at pace and crashed through the tackles to get the ball down with McCook converting.
That rounded off the afternoon’s scoring and meant Lochaber travelled back up the road with the nine-point victory.
Next Saturday Lochaber are at home to Mull. Kick off is 3pm at Banavie.