The presidential gaggle and a good natured, noisy representation from the mighty 2nd XV (game off) assembled at OA on a bitterly cold day looking for something to warm us up from the sand pit masquerading as a pitch. Unhappily for us, it was the Oban support that enjoyed the first few encounters as a very big strong pack dominated the proceedings behind a fierce wind. The wind was going to be a big factor and we needed to keep any limited possession in the hands if at all possible.
Despite the Oban dominance, our first decent possession saw the ball whipped out to the extremely speedy Mark Taylor on the wing for the first touchdown. No conversion so 5 minutes gone and 5 – 0.
We had to wait a whole 8 minutes for the first scrum of the game and, despite winning it, we made a bit of a mess of it at the back and Oban kept the pressure on. As against Clydebank last week, we defended stoutly and, although Oban pressed very hard on our line, we kept them out. This particular bout of pressure was eventually cleared by a decent kick from a penalty by Robbie Stewart.
We then had to suffer seeing Rory Love come to grief with a dodgy hamstring – hope it’s not too serious as he has been a try scoring machine this season. A big welcome back to Stu Hunter as replacement.
We were still struggling to get any decent ball to the backs but when we did they seemed to be determined to keep it complicated when the easy option seemed to be going begging. The other major problem was giving away far too many silly penalties – mostly for offside – not clever! Good old Hayley the physio had just the ticket to entertain the sideline with an impromptu confetti shower as she dashed on a mission of mercy to attend to some poor bashed body.
With half time just around the corner Andy McTavish decided to have a wee rest under the Oban hooker who went down like a shot horse on top of him. He was happily restored and continued later on in the second half.
We turned round with the wind now in our favour and immediately adopted the sensible tactic of hoofing the ball well down into Oban territory. We were still struggling to get and keep any decent possession or territory, however, but Disco came to the rescue with an excellent kick downfield (sorry to appear surprised skipper). This offered an excellent opportunity for Mark Taylor to show his real pace and he was rewarded with a penalty try as he was deemed to be obstructed going for the touchdown. (The supporters on the touchline were a bit surprised but we’ll take any luck we can get.) Davy Whyte converted. 5 minutes gone in second half and 12-0.
Next entertainment was a great pick up from the base of the loose by Gory Reid flicked on to Mike Aird who made a lovely break downfield and gave a well timed scoring pass to Billy Whiz Taylor for his hat trick. No conversion 17-0.
A trademark breenge from Disco very nearly brought another try this time for our Oz flanker Sean McCaffrey – unlucky not to hold onto the pass. Unhappily Sean (playing his last game for us before continuing on his travels) was carted shortly after with what turned out to be a broken ankle - we hope for a speedy recovery as he has been playing very well and was outstanding today. Enter Greg Woolard.
Oban were just not going to lie down and would certainly have scored but for a superb try saving tackle by Josh Mihil on the very much more substantial Oban No 8. Despite this derring do, the Oban forwards kept up the pressure and were rewarded with a try which they converted 17 - 7 after 25 minutes.
We did manage a good spell of possession towards the end and desperately went for the bonus point but we just could not get the passing right. So the final score was 17-7.
Still, a win’s a win and 4 points were duly recorded.

Team R. Stewart, M. Taylor, D. Whyte, D. Hoffman, R. Love, J. Mihill, M. Aird, A. Forbes, G. Reid, S.Cameron, H. Parker, A. Drummond, A. McTavish, S. McCaffrey, M. Borthwick. Replacements C. McLay, G. Woolard, S. Hunter

This article was posted on 2-Feb-2009, 14:21 by Hugh Barrow.