Beaten at Banavie for first time this season
Lochaber’s unbeaten home record comes crashing to an end
Lochaber’s unbeaten home record came crashing to an end on Saturday as title challengers Glasgow University Medics swept aside the home side at Banavie.
The medics won both legs of this fixture last season but with Lochaber flying high at home in the league and the medics racking up a 100-point victory in their last outing against Moffat, Saturday’s encounter was bound to be full of action.
But it was the visitors who were the first to get off the mark after a bright start to the match. The first point of the game came from some quick hands from the medics to get the ball out to their equally quick backs who were able to ship the ball out wide, cutting through Lochaber’s defence twice to score two early tries, with Alasdair Davidson managing to charge down the conversion from the first try.
Lochaber hit back almost immediately after the medics’ second try.
After a high ball, Lochaber pressed them deep in their own half and forced the mistake through a knock on.
A solid scrum from Lochaber allowed number eight Conor Taylor to pick the ball from the back of the scrum, with defenders falling off him as he made his way across the line to score with Jonathan McCook converting to make it 7-12.
Lochaber were struggling to contain a well-drilled medics team, who seemed to have endless support for the ball carrier making it hard to defend against. The visitors ran in more tries in the first half, but Lochaber got their second try of the afternoon after being awarded a penalty deep in the medics’ half – only the second time they had been in the medics’ 22. This time Lochaber set a penalty move straight from the training ground and once again it was Taylor who smashed his way through the medics defence to score in the corner. McCook converted from the side line to make it 14-38 at half time.
In the second half the neither teams could find a break though for the first 20 minutes before the medics eventually cut through Lochaber’s defence to score. Lochaber got their third try with around 10 minutes remaining when some quick hands out left got captain Callum MacDonald on the ball. He still had a lot of work to do but with his pace and strength he was able to brush of a couple of tackles and stretched to score in the corner. Unfortunately in the act of scoring he dislocated his shoulder, which is a potential season ending injury. The medics scored a further two tries to make the final score Lochaber 19 - 57 Glasgow University Medics.
This Saturday Lochaber travel to Hyndland where they will be looking for their second away win of the season after narrowly losing at the end of the game last season. Kick off is 2pm at Scotstoun Stadium.