Bishopton – 13
Lochabre – 10
Tries; Robertson
Conversions; Catto
Penalties; Catto (2)
On a sunny and crisp November morning, Gents Senior Rugby made a return to Holmpark with the first game being played since 16th October, with internationals and away trips keeping the team from their home patch.
With a lineup sporting many changes from the away against Moffat several weeks ago. The team were raring to go come kickoff and looking to secure a win against a team sitting above them in the league.
Catto got the game underway and was in possession frequently in the opening minutes gaining a scrum with a kick over the top that was knocked, the resulting scrum gave way to a penalty that Catto stepped up and slotted with no issue giving the hosts a 3 – 0 lead. Lochabre followed this up with two penalties of their own managing to convert one of them to level the score at 3-3. Catto nudged the home side again before halftime as Robertsons Kick secured a goal line drop out, when Lochabre conceded a penalty. Catto Slotted the penalty from the 22 with the Halftime whistle close behind.
The second half got off to a bang as Douglass took the highball from the restart bursting his way down the wing, before being able to offload to Robertson in the tackle who was able to break away up the wing and breaking through the middle and scoring under the posts, giving Catto an easy conversion giving The Bish a 13 – 3 lead.
Lochabre began to push Bishopton to their limits in the closing section of the game, beating Bishopton at the set pieces and putting the home side on the back foot. In the dying moments Lochabre gained a scrum on the Bishopton 5 meter line. Lochabre were able to push Bishopton back the 5 meters to the try line just as they had most of the day, allowing the Number 8 to dive over the line and secure the five points. The conversion was good, giving Bishopton a narrow lead of 13 -10. But Bishopton were able to hold out on a tight final 10 minutes as Lochabre put a lot of pressure on the defence, but it was able to be soaked up by a strong Bishopton defence up until the final whistle.
The Lorimers Man of the Match was Findlay Douglass for his work under the high ball and breaks from the back field in setting up the try.
The Barnhill Farm Glue player was Callum Brown who was able to front up in difficult scrummaging circumstances and also carried strong in the loose making several key line breaks.
Another huge achivment for the club on the day was the debuts of both Eoin Cameron and Robbie Fraser who were the latest Bishopton Graduates to make their debuts for the club
This weekend we are expected to travel to Lanark for what is always an eventful fixture, but the men from Lanarkshire have been struggling this season only being able to muster a single league game so far, but we hope to see them on the feild and getting their league campaign well underway.
