Women's 1st XV - Ayr
Oban Lorne Ladies kicked off their season this Sunday after a weekend of celebrating 20 years of women’s rugby at Oban Lorne. The first game of the season was held against last years league winners Ayr RFC.
The girls took to a soggy home pitch with the words of Scotland’s 10 Helen Nelson still fresh in their minds. With the rain coming in horizontally Oban kicked to start the game. After a few minutes of play the rust started to fall away and Oban found their rhythm. Some big forward drives created a big enough gap to allow Anna Bain to use her footwork, breaking the line and putting the first few points on the board for Oban. Ayr fought back hard but the Oban defence held tight and started pushing keeping Ayr in their own half. As Oban crept closer Kirsty Sinclair dove across the line making it 10-0 to the home side.
Ayr picked themselves up and trucked it up the pitch with some strong forward runners. Oban’s defence held well until a string of penalties held them on their own try line. Ayr pushed hard and eventually broke Oban’s line only to have their try held up as the half time whistle blew. A few changes were made coming into the second half. Giving Caitlin Fowler a quick breather and seeing the return of Rebecca Sims from injury to put her stamp on the match.
As play got underway again Oban held strong allowing Amy Gibson space to make a powerful charge up the wing. Caught short, it went to an Oban penalty where Julie Campbell crossed the line bringing the score to 15-0. As momentum built and the communication from the team flourished Poppy McKillop found a gap and ripped up the field planting the ball firmly under the posts for a 20-0 lead.
Ayr again picked themselves up and came back fighting winning a few Oban scrums and testing their defence well. However, one kick too many from Ayr gave Arden Binnie the chance she needed to run in her first try for Oban leaving the score sitting at 25-0 to the home side.
Some massive tackles by Jodie Millar helped to keep Ayr at bay as Oban ran down the clock to win their first Game of the season.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media...
The ladies will play away to Wigtownshire RFC next weekend in an effort to keep the momentum building.
