Women's 1st XV - Annan

Oban Lorne Ladies made the long journey to Annan on Sunday 30th November to take on Annan Warriors for our most important match of the league so far. Oban still undefeated this season taking on the 3rd placed team and then close rivals sitting 2nd in the league next week in our final game away to Lenzie where a victory will mean Oban win West 2 League undefeated away from home.

Oban started strong with some good carries and strong runs from the forward pack and link play to the backs and opened the scoring with a pick and go from the back of a ruck for our number 9 Evie Kellet. Successfully converted by Ellie MacInnes Score 0-7 to Oban. Oban remained dominant for the majority of the first half and saw another try from Captain Julie Campbell 0-12 with lots of hard runs gaining valuable metres time and time again. Unfortunately a lost ball and a few mistakes from Oban saw Annan take advantage and score a break away try. 7- 12 Oban regained momentum with some good hard running from

Forward pack and some good line out and ruck ball steals from Jordan MacIntyre and Ailsa Maclachlann. Oban welcomed Kirsty Sinclair back to the pitch for her first game this season and it was brilliant to have her with her strong carries and hard hits. Welcome back Kirsty! Our amazing number 13 Poppy McKillop try scorer extrordinar weaved her way through the Annan defence to score our third of the first half. Kicked well and converted by Ellie MacInnes Score 7-19 . Discipline was becoming an issue for both sides which saw Annan with a yellow card for the last ten minutes of first half. During this time they dug deep and managed to capitalise on silly mistakes from Oban and break through our defence. Half time score 14-19

With all to play for and a tight game Oban started the second half strong with some good runs from Number 8 Lindsay Macmillan , the forward pack linked well and saw a brilliant run and try for Caitlin Fowler. Score 26-14 Oban kept momentum going with another strong link of play between forwards and backs allowing Poppy McKillop to break through for another try. Score now 31-14 half way through the second half. Oban were warned about number of team penalties at 9 were creeping too high and with the next a team yellow would be issued and unfortunately we received two yellows back to back one for hands in ruck for Ailsa McLachlann and one for head contact in a tackle for Lindsay MacMillan. So Oban were down to 14 for 20minutes which took its toll on discipline and communication and mistakes creeped into play and opened up an opportunity for Annan who made use of Obans mistakes and ran home two late tries which had Oban finish the game triumphant but slightly disappointed and on the back foot. Final score 24-31 player of the match awarded by Annan and Oban was number 8 Lindsay MacMillan

Oban happy with the win but disappointed with some of the performance leaving the coach Corrie Louw frustrated with the lack of cohesion and communication and the team not playing our best rugby making it hard work for ourselves. We will be working hard this week at training to make sure we are ready to finish our season on a high and play at our best next weekend against Lenzie. Big thank you to our amazing Captain putting in a massive shift on the park and driving us all the way to Annan and back on the mini bus and thanks to Corrie for putting up with us through it all. We are running a coach to Lenzie with supporters welcome to come with us for just £10 . Get in touch if you would like a seat on the coach