In a much anticipated local derby, Lomond opened the scoring with a penalty kick, punishing Clydebank for infringements in the contact area, Lomond could have made it 6 points to nil but they missed their second attempt at kicking for posts. Despite handling errors and consistently giving away penalties Clydebank did play some good rugby, covering large areas of the pitch with their attacking play. It was then the turn of the visitors to give away penalties, Clydebank could have opted to kick their way into the lead, however their desire to get the 4-try bonus point led them to go for line outs and scrums. This strategy paid off when David Bell (returning from his 3 week retirement) sold a dummy and went over underneath the posts. McCombe slotted over the conversion.

The visitors were not taking anything lying down and embarked on an exuberant period of play holding onto the ball and making in roads into the home teams 22. Lomond were held up over the line by solid defending however they eventually found a gap in the line and took full advantage, with a converted try Lomond were now leading 10-7, much to the delight of the considerable travelling support.

In a scrappy half for Clydebank two opportunities were wasted that could have resulted in tries. Bell just missed out on picking up a dropped ball that would almost certainly have led to a try, and Graham Kyle passed the ball out the park with Clydebank enjoying an overlap. Both experienced heads would make amends in the 2nd half. It fell to Scott McIntosh who powered himself over the line from a number 8 pick-up to restore the Bankies into the lead. In a very physical first half the score at half-time was 12-10 to the home team.

The teams emerged for the second half and the contest could have easily went either way, however Clydebank upped their effort and performance and would go on to score 5 tries in the half. James Roberts scored the first snatching a short thrown line out from the opposition and strolling over for the score. A period of strong attacking running followed with the ball flowing between the hands of Kirkwood and McCombe and moving across the park. First Smart battered through the defence, he was then followed by Kyle, both men put down near the posts making it easy for McCombe to convert both of them.

Arguably the try of the match was scored by winger Dougie Vallance-Nairn; Kyle passed to Bell and then out to Dougie who sprinted up the wing narrowly evading the tackles of the Lomond defence to score in the corner. In the closing minutes Bell demonstrated how dangerous he can be by dummy-ing past several players all the way to the try line.

While only the scorers are mentioned by name here, the endeavour of all the Clydebank players in defence and in attack combined to display a great second half performance, one which they will hope to replicate in their top of the table clash with Helensburgh at Whitecrook next week.


1. G. Kyle (1 try)
2. R. Short
3. S. Laird
4. D. Brown
5. A. Cameron
6. D. Donnelly
7. J. Roberts (1 try)
8. S. McIntosh (1 try)
9. D. Kirkwood
10. J. McCombe (4 our of 7 conversions)
11. D. Gibson
12. D. Bell (2 tries)
13. D. Vallance-Nairn (1 try)
14. J. Welson
15. D. Smart (1 try)
Subs:
G. Spence
G. Ramsey
A. Allan
J. Henderson
McGinlay
D. Valentine
S. Neeson
R. Clark