Narrow win for Oban Lorne Under 18s

Oban Lorne

Newton Stewart

West Under-18 League OBAN’S U18 side welcomed a combined Newton Stewart and Wigtownshire team to Glencruitten on Saturday. The teams had met earlier in the season playing out a 12-12 draw in Stranraer.

The Oban side have gathered good momentum since a patchy start to the season and sit in third place in the table going into last weekend’s game.

It was Oban who made a good start to the game, in particular man of the match James Divers who made some good breaks. The game remained scoreless until 10 minutes as both sides displayed some good, physical defensive work.

After a good attack into the visitors 22, Oban reacted quickly from a penalty with scrum half Sandy Bavington tapping quickly to Ewan Shearer who was brought down short of the line.

The ball was recycled quickly out to centre David Cameron who crashed over for the first try of the day.

Fellow centre Andrew Ritchie converted the kick for a 7-0 lead.

‘Newtonshire’ narrowed the score shortly after as Oban switched off at a five metre lineout to conceded a soft try.

Oban refused to let this dent their confidence as they attacked well from the kick off. Promising runs from David Cameron, James Divers, Euan Shearer and Brych Hensman Martin gave the team a good platform to attack from. On 20 minutes Oban scored their second try of the day. The Oban pack powered the visitors over the line on their own ball allowing Finn Charlton in for a straightforward touchdown. Ritchie again converted for a 14-5 lead.

The visitors hit back with another try narrowing the deficit to only four points at half-time.

Oban pressed for another score early in the second half but knocked the ball on near the line allowing the hosts to break clear.

Oban were reduced to 14 men with winger Robert McLaughlin forced off with a head injury. Oban, with no substitutes, had to play the remainder of the game 14 v 15.

Using the man advantage ‘Newtonshire’ took the lead with another try bringing the score to 14-17.

Another draw would probably have been a fair result but Oban refused to give up and scored a fantastic team try with Andrew Ritchie eventually breaking free down the left touchline to score.

Oban held on at 19-17 to record a hard fought victory.

The U18 side have two remaining games left this season as they make the long trip to Castle Douglas this week to take on Stewartry and finish 2017 with a home game against Ardrossan on Saturday December 16.