Narrow defeat for Lorne at Lenzie

Oban Lorne travelled to Lenzie last Saturday for a top of the table clash between the two remaining undefeated teams in the league.

This was a much changed Oban team from previous weeks with a number of changes made due to injury, work commitments, holidays and suspension.

Oban fielded a very young team with an average age of 22. The oldest player was only 28 years old - what a change from the last few seasons.

The young back three, all 18-years-old, were targeted early on by the home side and were put under a lot of pressure in the opening stages of the match.

A combination of poor tackling and lack of communication resulted in three early tries for the home team as they exploited the nerves of the young wingers.

After 15 minutes, Oban were trailing by 17 points to nil and it was looking like being a long day for the makeshift squad.

Ten minutes from half time Oban finally put some phases of play together and after fine lead up work by the forwards Stephen Povey powered over the line to make the half time score 17-7.

Oban started brightly in the second half with another score after a series of quick rucks outside the opposition 22. Lorne Maclachlan broke a couple of tackles to score a great try.

Lenzie came back at Oban and some poor decision making from Oban allowed the home team to build the pressure on the young Oban team.

They were rewarded with a penalty and another try to stretch their lead to 27 points to 10 and secure the bonus point for scoring four tries.

With nothing to lose, Oban started to play a more expansive game which led to another try with Daniel Broderick going over next to the posts.

This try was converted by

Craig Wright to make the score 27-17.

Oban were dominating most phases of play now with fantastic carries from Calum MacLachlan, Stanley Lister and Daniel Broderick putting Oban on the front foot.

With five minutes of the match remaining, Oban captain Iwan Roberts made a scything break through the midfield and scored between the posts to bring Oban within three points of Lenzie.

Oban went straight at Lenzie from the kick off and were awarded a penalty just about the halfway line.

The penalty was kicked to the corner and Oban were confident of snatching the win but a squint throw let Lenzie off the hook allowing them to clear their lines and claim the victory.

This was Oban’s fourth away league trip in a row and to come away with three wins out of four is encouraging for the coaching team, who now shift their focus to next weekend’s match against Loch Lomond.