Lochaber Lose First Away Fixture to Bishopton

Taken from Oban Times article originally published on 14th September 2017: view here

Lochaber travelled to Bishopton for their first away game in the West League Division Three this season.

Lochaber were looking to emulate the success of their thumping victory over Moffat in their first game of the season. With five changes to the starting line up and six players missing from last week, the boys from Banavie were facing a tough afternoon.

Lochaber's line up saw two debuts for Niall MacIntyre and Koni Johnson, both playing their first ever game of rugby. Sam Docker also made his first start for the club after coming off the bench last weekend and is the latest player to come through the youth ranks at Lochaber.

The visitors started the game well and in the first few minutes Lochaber took the lead when Findlay Ireland crossed the line to score the first try of the game. Bishopton soon came back into the game with their big forward pack putting the Lochaber scrum under pressure. That pressure soon told when Bishopton scored their first try of the game.

Lochaber were beginning to miss the experience of some of the absent players as the game wore on as the team conceded a number of unnecessary penalties' allowing Bishopton to keep the score board ticking over.

The visitors' lineout was working well once again and they were able to steal quite a few Bishopton lineouts. The Lochaber men made a change to the front row with captain Callum MacDonald swapping from the second row to tight head prop. After the switch Lochaber were able to compete in the scrum and actually put the Bishopton pack under some pressure.

Near the end of the game Lochaber exerted a big squeeze on the Bishopton scrum and when the ball popped out of the scrum flanker Keith Garrick kicked the ball through and managed to recover it and pop it up to no.8 Rory MacKay to score Lochaber's second try of the game. A Jonathan McCook conversion added the two extra points. Despite a spirited finish to the game, Lochaber's efforts came up a little short and the game ended 39-12 to Bishopton.

Next up: HOME v Wigtownshire at Banavie on 16th September 2017, 1500 KO