The men in Green had been expecting a though game after Birkmyre’s impressive win away to Arran in the previous week.

The game started in Oban’s favour with an early try coming from Struan Smith. This settled and relaxed the Oban team who had gone over 12 weeks without a competitive fixture and went on to score a further two early scores through Neil Rimmer and Tommy Sutherland . Two conversions from Craig Wright took the score to 19-0 after 20 minutes.

Birkmyre hit back with their first score of the game. Oban were robbed of possession while attacking the home 22 allowing the Birkmyre backs to pass wide and make their way downfield. The hosts finished off and impressive flowing move to narrow the score line to 5-19.

The home side were dealt a huge blow losing two players to the sin bin for the latter part of the first half. Oban who were becoming increasingly impressive with a good scrum and breaking the tackle added a further score before halftime with 2nd Row Neil Rimmer crossing over. Oban failed to take score again with a numerical advantage with the team’s rustiness showing in crucial stages close to the line. Oban led 24-10 at halftime.

Birkmyre scored fist in the second half through an interception from thrown from the Oban backline. This momentarily brought the score back to 10-24 until Oban pushed into another gear. The Green Machine were unstoppable throughout the rest of the game scoring a further seven tries to put the game more than beyond doubt. Tries from twins Cammy and Struan Smith was added to with a try from Lorne MacLachlan, Corrie Louw, Angus Munro and Andy MacDougall with Craig Wright converting most of his chances to give a hugely impressive score line of 74-10. Oban were unlucky not to make the most of other chances that could have added further to the final result.

Oban Lorne are now through to the West Regional Semi Final and will face Paisley at Glencruitten on Saturday 2nd of February.
The Green Machine are back in West League action next Saturday as they travel to 2nd place Isle of Arran hoping to leap above them in the table. This is a key game in Oban Lorne’s promotion hunt from Division 3. Oban Lorne’s next home game will be at home to Clydesdale on Saturday 19th of January.