Strong Oban Lorne squad secures more away points
Oban Lorne Rugby Club travelled to play Bishopton last weekend looking for another win to keep them in the hunt for second place in West Division 2.
A strong squad departed Oban for their final away fixture of the season, even with a few changes in the back line from previous weeks.
With Craig Wright and Fergus McCoss unavailable, Iwan Roberts returned to centre and Finlay Carmichael to stand-off, with Graham MacEachen taking the full back position and youngsters Kieron Morrison and Robert Maclaughlin on the wings.
After a bright start and early possession, an Oban knock-on allowed Bishopton to break clear and, after a number of missed tackles, they crossed the Oban line for a try.
This was not the start Oban had wanted and they were soon to go further behind when Bishopton were awarded a penalty in front of the Oban posts. This was easily converted and Oban found themselves eight points down with the same number of minutes played.
Oban did not panic and got into the rhythm of the game with the loose forwards linking well with the backs to create opportunities.
A well-struck penalty kick by Finlay Carmichael got Oban on the board to make it 8-3.
Oban continued to press and Stephen Povey, playing in the front row, scored Oban’s first try after finding space out wide and crossing in the corner.
Finlay Carmichael was on target with the conversion to extend Oban’s lead to 10-8.
Next on the scoreboard was Kieron Morrison who was given the opportunity to play on the wing, with the coaching team hoping his quick feet and sidestep would be well-used.
After great movement from the forwards took play deep into the Bishopton 22, Carmichael noticed the narrowed defence and his pin point kick allowed the young winger to gather the ball over the line to score his first senior try.
This brought the first half to an end, with coach Johnston asking for more accuracy in attack and defence in the second half.
Bishopton were next to score, though, when the referee awarded another penalty in front of the post and this was again converted to make the score 22-11 to Oban.
Lorne MacLachlan then scored two quick tries to give Oban a bit of breathing space.
After a line break from captain Roberts, Lorne cruised over behind the posts to give Carmichael an easy conversion - 29-11.
The next try was even better when a well-worked move off the back of the scrum saw McDonald pick the ball up and take the scrum half out of play allowing MacLachlan to once again cross the line under the posts. These two tries capped off a man-ofthe-match performance for MacLachlan with him winning a number of turnovers for the Oban team linking up well with the backs and generally being a thorn in the Bishopton side all game.
With 20 minutes to go, the coaches made a couple of changes to try and freshen up the attack. Calum MacLachlan was introduced as he continues his rehab from his recent injury and he wasted no time in showing how difficult he is to stop with a number of great carries taking numerous defenders to try and stop him.
The second row pairing of Eric Roberts and Kyle Graham got through a power of work in attack and defence, with a number of great hits and strong aggressive carries. They are really developing into a great combo. With Oban continuing to control the majority of the possession, the last try of the day came when Calum MacLachlan was fed the ball out wide on the touch line. He set off on another run deep into the opposition 22 and when he was finally tackled he managed to get the offload to David Cameron who was in a great support position on his inside shoulder.
The young centre, who had another cracking game, burst the attempted tackle to score under the posts, again giving Carmichael another easy conversion for a final score of 36-11.
This was another fantastic away performance from the 'Green Machine' who have only lost three away games all season.
Another bonus point victory keeps them in second place with three home league games to play.
The next home game is on Saturday March 2 when Wigtownshire make the long journey from Stranraer for their first visit to Glencruitten.