West Region Division One

OBAN LORNE 20
PAISLEY 0

STRUGGLING Paisley made the journey north buoyed by the return of long-term injury victim Euan Gray...

The scrum-half had been out since the end of last season with a shoulder injury that required surgery.

With a strong squad the Buddies headed to Oban in fairly confident mood as the home side were also searching for their first win of the season.  Prop Neil Ritchie made an even longer journey than his team-mates as he travelled from his base on Benbecula via a five-hour ferry trip. His presence made a difference in the scrums.

The visitors made a good start to the match and appear to have finally overcome the crippling problem of conceding tries within the first five minutes.  This time they got to the 25 mark with honours even thanks to some resolute defending and much better scrummaging than in recent weeks.

Lock Al Brodie moved to number 8 and he led the pack, all of whom have benefitted from the intense scrum training provided by the club’s new forwards coach, by example.  Line-outs were also much better with regular jumper, skipper Mike Somerville, back to take his place in the set pieces.

Ryan Rawes found his range with his throwing and his overall performance was once again pleasing.
But the team as a whole could not keep Oban out forever and a back-line move to the wing provided the first score on 26 minutes.

Just before half-time Lorne got their second try to knock the stuffing out of the battling Buddies.
However, at the break the Paisley skipper and coaching staff still felt they were very much in the game with the score at 10-0. 

A bright start to the second period revived hopes of a comeback but some poor tackling allowed the home side to score twice more and take the final score to 20-0.

Player/coach Gordon Powrie was sin binned for getting involved in a fairly fierce punch up with an Oban prop almost twice his size – a punch up Powrie won hands down.
Euan Gray said: “It was great to be back but obviously I’d have been much happier if we’d got a result.
“We’re defending better than we have been but it looks like we’re running out of steam too early.   There were definite signs of improvement but we must get fitter and work on tackling.”

Paisley have a free weekend so focus switches to the second XV who are at home to Loch Lomond on Saturday.