West Chairman’s Cup Final 30th April

Just in case you missed the great game on Sunday here's the report from our very own Roger Lees

Strathaven v Loch Lomond U15s Rugby – West Chairman’s Cup Final 30th April

On a sunny but cool and windy day, these two teams met to contest the Chairman’s Cup final.

Strathaven has defeated Annan the weekend before by a comfortable margin 52-7 but knew that this match would be much more difficult having met Loch Lomond in the divisional game in late 2016 and losing both matches.

Strathaven played with the wind in the first half and scored twice + conversions to Loch Lomond 1 try & conversion.
Calum Garrow at no.7 scored both try’s and conversions, ably backed up by the whole team who tacked and had the majority of procession due to some great rucking at breakdowns and a good strong forward line in the scrums.

So at half time the score was 14-7.

The second half saw Lomond with the wind advantage and they began to pressure hard. For the majority of the second half they dominated and kept Strathaven pinned in their 22.
Strathaven’s defence was resolute and managed to hold the ball up on 2-3 occasions to prevent any score. Eventually Lomond broke through to score a well-deserved try, however missing the conversion. 14-12.

From the kick off Lomond once again asserted themselves pinning Strathaven back, however after 5 minutes of pressure, Strathaven managed to clear their lines and chase the ball up field. Then from a ruck Ross McDonald kicked the ball forward into space. Andrew Lamb – Strathaven’s No. 15, anticipated this and also got the bounce in his favour running through to collect and score a great opportune try. 19-12.

The last 10 minutes Lomond pressed hard and again pinned Strathaven back in their 22. Strathaven’s defence again held firm against the barrage, however during overtime Lomond managed to break through and score & convert with the last kick of the match. 19-19 FINAL SCORE.

The SRU official advised that there would be no extra time at this age and instead both teams would share the win and trophy for the year. Although the initial reaction was disappointment that there would be no extra time to sort out one winner, this was quickly replaced by celebrations by both squads, independently and together posing for pictures following the presentation of the shield to Strathaven’s captain Scott Bell and his Lomond counterpart.