Strathaven U16's v Lochaber U16's West Region Chairman's Trophy Semi Final

Lochaber U16s travelled to Strathaven on Sunday 20th March, for their semi final in the West Region Chairman’s Trophy. A reasonably well-balanced Strathaven side notched up 7 tries to Lochaber’s 1 in the first half, perhaps spurred on by their vocal home ground support. Substitutes Callum McCaig and Gregor Henderson, both coming back into the game from shoulder injuries, aided Lochaber’s cause in the second half, and limited the home side’s try count to 4 whilst managing to score a 2nd try themselves.
The final score was Strathaven 58 Lochaber 12.

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 managed to make some tackles, flankers Ben Davies and Rory MacKinnon did some useful work in the loose, and hooker Taylor Barr struggled through the whole game despite a niggling knee injury. Cody Mackay and Callan Griffin also got through the whole of the first half despite their pre-existing knee injuries.

This game was an improvement on the Lochaber boys’ last outing, when in the last quarter they tired visibly and their defensive pattern became somewhat ragged – at Strathaven, they never gave up and played some of their best rugby towards the end of the game. Their next rugby steps are to master the art of the tackle and to hold a defensive line – well within this enthusiastic bunch’s capabilities!