Youth rugby teams show their mettle
Lochaber Under 18s 12 Carrick 15 West Youth Under 18 Plate semi final
On Saturday Lochaber U18s hosted Carrick Rugby at Banavie in the West Region Plate semi final hoping to turn the tables after a league defeat in Maybole in October.
Following some creative attacking play, Lochaber’s Hugo Hoevelmann found himself in open space on the 10-metre line and the strong running No7 took advantage of a gap to run in and score the first try of the day on the 15th minute. An excellent conversion by Fergus MacIntyre gave the home side a well-deserved seven point lead.
Carrick came back strongly with repeated attempts to break through the strong Lochaber defence and a good pick up and drive saw them rewarded with an unconverted try on 18 minutes.
A penalty awarded to Carrick in the 31st minute was kicked successfully to take the score at half time to Lochaber 7 Carrick 8.
The second half started at the same furious pace, with the strong Lochaber scrum beginning to dominate. Lochaber’s Dylan Monk appeared to score following one of many surges from the base of the scrum only for the try to be disallowed, the referee adjudging that Monk had lost control of the ball as he attempted to ground it.
Carrick fought their way back into the game and after 48 minutes scored under the posts giving them an easy conversion to take an eight-point lead.
Lochaber came back into the game on the hour mark when Monk again charged towards the line and good support play and quick thinking by Fergus MacIntyre secured a well-deserved score. The conversion attempt was just wide, making the final score Lochaber 12, Carrick 15.
This was the first season of U18 rugby in Lochaber for 22 years and provided playing opportunities for boys from not only Lochaber area but also from Mull and Oban. Overall, a fantastic achievement.
Strathaven Under 16s 12 Lochaber Under 16s 15 West Youth Under 16 Trophy semi final
Lochaber U16s travelled to Strathaven on Sunday for their semi final in the West Region Chairman’s Trophy.
A reasonably well-balanced Strathaven side notched up seven tries to Lochaber’s one in the first half, spurred on by their vocal home ground support.
Substitutes Callum McCaig and Gregor Henderson, both coming back from injuries, aided Lochaber’s cause in the second half, and limited the home side’s try count to four whilst assisting in a second try for their own team.
Match captain Anton Bodkin and number 8 Archie Campbell led the forwards by example and at fullback, Josh Seymour kicked and tackled well. All the Lochaber boys played to the best of their abilities and it was really pleasing to see some improvement from the younger and less experienced players.
Robert Gosling at scrumhalf made some tackles, flankers Ben Davies and Rory MacKinnon did some useful work in the loose and hooker Taylor Barr struggled through the game despite a niggling knee injury. Cody Mackay and Callan Griffin also got through the first half despite their pre-existing knee injuries.