On Saturday 4 November 2017 Stewartry Under 16 Rugby team travelled to play against Oban Lorne Under 16 team. After an overnight trek to Oban on the Friday the boys were in good fettle to play the most important game of the season so far. Both teams were unbeaten and had similar results against their respective opposition. In effect this was the “Big One” and potential title decider and it lived up to expectations.
The game started and Stewartry soon made good ground near to the Oban goal line but a knock on forced a scrum to Oban. Oban kicked clear but Stewartry came right back with strong forward drives from Glen Duke, Connor Clanachan, Ryan Cochrane and Andrew Bowden before another handling error stopped the drive forward. A great scrum push on Oban ball allowed Archie Nicolson to feed Peter Young who passed the ball along the line to Locky Spence, and Fraser Forsyth who was stopped near the line. Fraser popped the ball back to Murray Ross who plunged over for the first score. A short time after the restart the forwards made headway with great driving and rucking. The Stewartry forwards were looking after the ball very well not allowing Oban too infiltrate the line. After 20 mins or so of Stewartry pressure, a few handling errors and lying on the ball in the ruck, Stewartry finally scored with a good drive on the left, slick passing along the line allowed Pacey Ho to score in the corner. After the restart Oban made headway into the Stewartry half but were repelled at each stage by aggressive tackling and superb counter rucking. This allowed Fraser, Locky and Murray to make ground from broken play. However, a couple of bad decisions and a forward pass brought play to a halt. However, from this scrum the fowards pushed Oban back and allowed Archie to pass along the line to Pacey Ho who cut inside and scored near the posts. A well worked and executed move. As the game was approaching half time Oban were well in the game and very close to Stewartry line but some fervent aggressive tackling and holding up prevented Oban from scoring. As the Oban attack broke down the ball broke free and from their own line a kick and chase by Fraser Forsyth allowed him to glide over the ground almost the full-length of the pitch to score under the posts. A fantastic opportunistic try just before the halftime break.
Half time score – Oban Lorne 0 -22 Stewartry
A couple of changes were made at half time with Finn Baillie on for Andrew Bowden and Luke Thomson on for Pacey Ho. At the start of the second half Oban were on the offensive with some picking and driving around the scrum, however, the Stewartry defence were up for the challenge and repelled them each time. After Oban spilled the ball a clearance kick made it into the Oban half and after a great chase the ball was picked up by Fraser Forsyth and passed along the line to Lochy Spence who scored in the corner. Another classic move of changing defence into attack and punishing the opposition. At this stage the Oban boys seemed too be wearying a little and the Stewartry were running good lines at them and making ground rapidly. One of these moves allowed Fraser Forsyth to run near the corner where he popped the ball to Archie who scored in the corner. After the restart Oban tried to make some ground but failed to get over the gain line due to some quality tackling and rucking. This allowed Archie to seize a turnover ball and passed it along the line for Fraser Gibson to score near the posts. Murray Connor replaced David Martin, Rory Sinclair replaced Glen and Alexander McCormick replaced Aaron Murray who came off with a strained ankle. The game was approaching the final quarter when Peter Young got the ball going forward from a great scrummage and spotted the Oban players drifting, darted through the Oban defence and then side stepped the fullback to score a fabulous try under then posts. Peter has been waiting all season for an opportunity to make this style of score. As the match was nearing the end Oban were making a very concerted effort to score but with fantastic backs to wall defending tackling and rucking they failed to cross the Stewartry line. As the ball broke free Finn Telfer kicked the ball free and chased to to half way line where he hacked it on and as he was being chased by most of the Oban team he won the footrace to touch it down for the final try. A fantastic bit of pace and fitness by the second rower. The Oban team never stopped trying and were very worthy opponents. The attitude, inspiration, effort and skill off the whole 21 Stewartry boys against good opposition was pleasing for the coaching staff.
Final Score – Oban Lorne 0 -51 Stewartry
9 tries – 3 converted.
The strong scrummaging and rucking work of the front 5 forwards made it easy for the talented backs and flankers to create space and run lines which allowed the ball to go wide and 9 tries to be scored.Oban were a good strong team and all the preparation work the boys have doing in training paid off. With 7 different try scorers it shows the team are using all parts of the pitch to play open attractive rugby.Thanks to Oban for prioritising this game for pitch space as they were aware of distance boys were travelling.
The final game in the league is in 2 weeks time and a similar performance will be hoped for by all
