14-man Lochaber edged out at Scotstoun Stadium
Hyndland Lochaber 29 24 Tennent’s West Division 3
Two bonus points provided scant consolation for Lochaber who were unfortunate not to claim victory in Glasgow after having two tries disallowed in the first half.
The Banavie side enjoyed the rare opportunity to play at Scotstoun Stadium, home of the Glasgow Warriors, on Saturday as they faced city-side Hyndland in a tight encounter which saw both sides score at east four tries.
Hyndland who were coming off the back of their first win of the season and were full of confidence and from the kick off, they played with a fast tempo using the extra width of the pitch well to stretch Lochaber’s defence.
This tactic was working well for them and they scored three tries early on with Lochaber barely having any possession of the ball. Things then got worse for Lochaber as they lost Chris Morrison and Paul Mitchell in quick succession reducing Lochaber to only 14 men.
Lochaber got their first score after some good build up play got them into Hyndland’s 22 for the first time. A deft chip over the top saw Hyndland’s fullback fumbled the ball as it crossed the try line and Christopher Simpson was there to tap the ball down for a Lochaber try, with the conversion coming back off the post from a very tight angle.
The score gave Lochaber confidence and they were staring to cause Hyndland some problems, with Alasdair Davidson throwing their defence into disarray everytime he ran at them. From a quick ruck 10 meters out right in front of the posts, Andy Milne passed the ball out right to Davidson arriving at pace. He passed the first defender and off loaded the ball in the next tackle to William Stewart who was tackled just short of the line but was able to stretch out to get the ball down on the line for Lochaber’s second score.
Hyndland were not done however, and scored a further two tries towards the end of the first half to make it 29-10 at half time. The Lochaber coaches were blunt about needed to be adressed in the half-time break and the team came out eager to get a result from the match, despite being a man down.
Lochaber looked to have got their third try from a quick tap penalty that saw James Young cross the line, but the referee wasn’t ready and brought it back for the penalty. Young again passed it to Angus Jenkins who had lined up a gap in Hyndland’s defence but the referee adjudged the ball had gone forwards.
From the resulting scrum, Lochaber won back possession, despite only having seven in the pack and got their third try when the ball was passed out to Simpson who scored under the posts to leave an easy conversion for Jonathan McCook.
The second half was all Lochaber with Hyndland not able to mount any real attacking plays. Lochaber got their four try and a four-try bonus point when Matt Murray crossed the line with McCook converting.
The final 10 minutes of the game saw Lochaber camped in Hyndland’s 22 pushing for the try that would level the game.
However, Hyndland’s defence held up against the barrage of attacks and they managed to eke out a five point victory. Lochaber picked up a losing bonus point to add to their try bonus point, meaning they overtook Cowal and Birkmyre in the league to move up to third place.
Lochaber travel away again next week to Shawlands with an early kick off of 12.30pm due to Scotland playing at home to Fiji at 2.30pm.