Oban Lorne turn on the style against Kilmarnock
Oban Lorne 28 Kilmarnock 5 BT West Division One
OBAN Lorne welcomed mid table Kilmarnock to Glencruitten on Saturday for the home sides last scheduled home game of the 2017/2018 season.
This was a must win game for Oban Lorne who were convincingly beaten 106-13 in the reverse fixture at the start of the season.
Kilmarnock’s form since has gone downhill while Oban have improved slightly despite the lowly league position of 11th.
The men in green had a strong squad of players for the game which included 17-year-old Andrew Ritchie, hoping to make his first appearance for the team after a very promising U18 season.
The game started with play being shared between both sides. Oban however were the more disciplined of the teams which allowed captain Craig Wright to score and early penalty for a 3-0 lead.
Oban were improving as the first half wore on but could not let any promising pressure turn into points.
The Kilmarnock defence was eventually breached in the first half with number eight Daniel Broderick being held up over the line. Oban did score through Stephen Povey from the resulting scrum extending the home sides lead to 10-0.
Oban player/coach Corrie Louw came off the bench replacing the injured Daniel Kemp as Oban’s impressive scrummaging was pushing the Killie pack off their own ball.
Second row Kyle Graham was having his best performance for Oban Lorne, while another change was made before the break, with hooker Craig McGuire replacing the tiring Connor Ferris. Craig Wright extended his team’s advantage just before the half-time break, touching down in the corner after some tidy play in midfield. The visitors, however, did respond shortly after giving a 15-5 half time score.
Into the second half Kilmarnock were dealt a couple of blows. First their impressive outside centre was forced off with an injury before they were reduced to 14 with the sin binning off their number 7.
Oban took the most of their man advantage as Wright slotted over another penalty taking the score to 18-5.
Kilmarnock, when back to their full compliment, upped the pressure on Oban but were undone with some great tackling from Graham MacEachan, Richard MacKay, Stephen Povey and second rows Jack Strachan and Kyle Graham.
Oban were reduced to 14 men midway into the half, with experienced back David McLaughlin being yellow carded for a hand in the ruck.
Despite being a player down, Oban did not concede for the 10-minute period.
With Oban back to 15 players they started shipping the ball wide and making some good ground. Andrew Ritchie entered play with 15 minutes to go to replace Roddy Morrison.
Kilmarnock’s poor discipline was costing them again along with an impressive refereeing performance as Wright again added to his tally knocking over another penalty kick.
In the closing stages Kilmarnock had much of the possession but Oban managed to kick to the corner and pressure the tryline. Stephen Povey went over from the maul for his second of the afternoon putting the game out of sight at 28-5.
Kilmarnock put Oban under pressure but the defence managed to hold out and push for the bonus point try. This almost came, nearly getting it wide enough as space opened up for Andrew Ritchie or Dave McLaughlin, but good defence from Kilmarnock held out and it finished 28-5.
The win means that Oban Lorne now sit only five points adrift of 10th placed Irvine and also possess a game in hand.
Oban Lorne are back in action on Saturday May 19, away to Greenock Wanderers who were beaten 30-0 at Glencruitten earlier in the season. The Green Machine also have two fixtures still to be rearranged away to Annan and at home to Cambuslang.