Good away win for the Green Machine
Cumnock 17 Oban Lorne 34
Tennent’s West Division 2
Last weekend Oban Lorne travelled to Ayrshire to play Cumnock RFC. This was the first meeting between the two teams for a number of seasons.
Oban battled through the treacherous conditions on the roads to arrive at the new facility at Cumnock, which has two full-size 4G rugby pitches – another amazing surface to play on. This brings to three the number of teams in the league playing on synthetic surfaces, with Strathaven and Clydebank also playing on 4G.
The Green Machine started the game well and were enjoying long spells of possession, just lacking a bit of composure to get the final pass away.
After a sustained period of pressure inside the opposition 22, Oban conceded a couple of penalties and found themselves five yards out from their own goal line.
The home pack secured the lineout and attempted to maul the ball over the line only to be knocked back by the Oban defence time and again. Cumnock did well to continue to recycle ball and were rewarded with the opening try of the game when they managed to ground the ball after another hard carry. Cumnock 7 Oban 0.
Oban responded well and went straight back at the home team. Continued pressure brought an attacking lineout inside the 22 and after a couple of breenges by the forwards the ball was fed out to the backs. Ferg McCoss stepped inside a tackle and managed to get the offload away to big Calum Maclachlan to take the ball in and score under the posts. The kick was converted by Vasil Borisow to bring the scores level with no further scoring in the first half.
The second half continued in the same vein as the first with Oban continuing to dominate territory and posession and Cumnock only really threatening on the back of Oban mistakes. A soft penalty for not rolling away in the tackle allowed Cumnock to retake the lead 10-7.
Oban came storming back and were rewarded with another score from Stanley Lister, who burrowed his way over to retake the lead 12-10.
Oban extended their lead to 19-10 when awarded a penalty five metres from the Cumnock line. Graham MacEachen, who had an excellent game at scrum half, took a quick tap penalty and fed Owen Mcdonald and the big doctor crossed in the corner for a well-taken score, again converted by Borisow who was playing at stand off.
Cumnock responded again and brought the game back to within two points with another converted try when they had a succession of pick-and-goes close to the Oban line.
Contrast
Entering the last 15 minutes of the game and the contrast between the teams was evident with Oban trying to play with width and speed and Cumnock playing the power game with lots of driving play from the forwards.
Oban extended their lead when they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts for a high tackle which was again converted by Borisow.
Into the last 10 minutes and Oban finally managed to cut free as they had been trying to all game. Big Calum Maclachlan was the catalyst with another barnstorming run up the middle of the pitch with almost half the Cumnock team attempting to tackle the big prop.
With quick ball generated and fed wide, this brought Oban deep into the home team’s danger area and, when another quick ball was fed out the line, Lorne Sinclair outpaced the home defence to score a great try to take the lead to 27-17 and secure the all-important bonus point for the Green Machine.
The final nail in the coffin for Cumnock came in the last play of the game when Oban danger man Craig Wright picked up a loose ball on his own 10-metre line and got on the outside of the home winger and raced away to score under the posts. The try was again converted by Borisow with the last kick of the match for a well-deserved 34-17 victory for Oban.
This was an important result for the Oban men who had a couple of below average performances at the end of last year.
Next week Oban Lorne welcome the league leaders Strathaven to Glencuitten, looking to avenge the defeat in last year’s fixture.
Strathaven have had a strong start to the season and will be a tough team to beat but hopefully last week’s result will fill the team with confidence.
It would be great to have a big crowd along to support the boys in their first home fixture of 2020.