Lochaber score six tries before ref stops game due to injury RUGBY
Lochaber 41 Cumbernauld 5
West Region Division 3
Lochaber booked their place in the West Regional Bowl final when they ran in six tries against Cumbernauld at Banavie on Saturday.
The two teams know each other well after playing only four weeks previously when Lochaber won 13-34.
Cumbernauld would have been looking for some revenge after that game and they struck first early in the first half to take the lead 0-5.
But Lochaber, playing in their second bowl semi-final in three seasons, responded quickly with a try of their own. Lochaber attacked down the right wing before quickly shipping the ball through the hands to Jack Hamilton on the left wing.
He had support around him but he didn’t need it with his pace beating the defence to score in the corner.
Lochaber quickly added a second when a chip over the defence wasn’t dealt with and Matt Murray benefited with the bounce of the ball to run in under the posts.
With Jonathan McCook converting to make it 12-5. Lochaber were building with confidence, and the backs were finding all sorts of gaps in Cumbernauld’s defence.
The scrums were going well as well with hooker Rory MacKay taking a few against the head. Lochaber’s third try came through Koni Johnson who evaded a few tackles to score in the right corner.
McCook then added a penalty before scoring Lochaber’s fourth try and he then converted his own to make it 27-5 at half-time.
During the interval team talk Lochaber felt like they had left a couple of tries out there and spoke about putting the game to bed with a couple of early touchdowns in the second half.
Their fifth try did come early in the second half with a scrum in the left hand corner 10 metres out. Conor Taylor picked from the back of the scrum and attacked down the blindside and Cumbernauld couldn’t keep him out, with McCook converting.
Lochaber’s sixth score came after they switched the play from right to left and MacKay broke through the tackle to go clear, and he might have made it all the way to the line but drew the last defender before passing to captain Callum MacDonald to score by the posts leaving a simple conversion for McCook to make it 41-5.
Lochaber were pushing for their seventh try when vice-captain William Stewart picked up the ball from the back of the ruck just a couple of metres out.
Unfortunately, Stewart sustained a broken leg during a tackle and it is hoped he will have been in for surgery on Monday.
With an ambulance being called, the referee spoke to both captains and it was agreed to finish the game with the current score standing.
So Lochaber move forward to their first final in quite a while, where they will play either Glasgow University Medics or Birkmyre on November 9.
Before Lochaber learn their finals opponents, they are back in league action this Saturday with an away fixture to Cowal.
Lochaber recently won 0-50 away to Cowal in the quarter-finals so will be hoping to travel with a strong team to try get another positive result away from home. Kick-off 3pm at Dunoon.