OBAN LORNE RUGBY ROUND-UP
Oban Lorne Ladies progressed to the National Plate semi-finals after a huge 57-0 win against Bishopton.
There were 18 players who made the journey to Renfrewshire and it was Jordan MacIntyre who opened the scoring after a difficult opening 20 minutes for the visitors. The flanker scored her first try for Oban, before space was created out wide for centre Poppy Mckillop to add a second on the wing to make it 12-0. Oban’s third try then came from some strong carries from the forwards that drew in the Bishopton defence, with captain Kirsty Sinclair throwing a dummy and scoring.
The visitors then found their rhythm, using the training drills they’ve been practising as Mckillop, Sinclair and prop Julie Campbell all scored to make it 36-0 at half-time.
Oban continued to dominate in the second half, with Sinclair completing her hat-trick of tries and a successful conversion from Lucy Stewart making it 43-0. Their next try came from some hard work from the forwards, Ellie Picken and Grace MacLean, who drew in the opposition to create space for Rachel MacDonald.
The full-back ran it in from halfway to score underneath the posts as Stewart added anOban other conversion to take Oban up to the 50 point mark.
Oban were then able to thwart the Bishopton attack to steal the ball back and give Mckillop the opportunity to also grab her third try and the visitors’ final try of the match.
The Ladies will now wait to see who they will play in the National Plate semi-finals on Sunday April 16, as they finished top of Pool C with 20 points from a possible 20.
Aimee Johnston from Appin also made her debut off the bench for the Scottish Futures team in their defeat to England Under 20s in Newcastle on Saturday March 25.
Meanwhile, Oban Men were on the road, scoring 14 tries in a 99-0 rout at Clydebank as they continued their push in the West League Two title race.
Craig Wright, Jethro Divers (4), George Ritchie (2), Blair MacFarlane (3), Patrick John (2) and Callum Hamilton were among the scorers as they narrowed the gap to league leaders Dalziel by three points, with three games in hand.
It was a long day for Clydebank, but they kindly donated £200 to Oban’s World Cup in France, in September.
Next game is on Saturday where they host Strathendrick at Glencruitten with a 3pm kick-off.