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LOCHABER Rugby Club host Highland Reds at Banavie on Saturday afternoon hoping to improve on their disappointing 17-10 loss to RAF Kinloss at the same ground last weekend.
Kinloss caught Lochaber on the hop right at the start, breaking out on the wing from a scrum, with the forwards then queuing up in midfield.
Early on in the game Lochaber’s poor tackling allowed Kinloss’s hooker to break free and cross the line for an unconverted try.
Lochaber then stepped up a gear to try and get back into the game but did not convert as many chances as they could have.
The pressure was beginning to show with Callum Mercer being driven over the line and held up, with the same happening to David Maclean ten minutes later.
Lochaber had another bout of bad luck when Number 8 Dale Monk set up Pavel Fronczek for what looked like a certain try but the winger dropped the ball going over the line.
Finally flanker Adam Moorhouse exploited a chink in the Kinloss defence behind a ruck, finding himself in the clear and scampering home for a try under the posts.
Kenny Turnbull duly converted his kick to give Lochaber a slender 7–5 lead at half time.
Lochaber kicked another penalty early in the second half to stretch their lead but then fumbled the catch at the kick off.
This resulted in a scrum that set up a simple miss move with the fullback coming into the line giving the wing an overlap.
He went over the line in the corner to level the scores.
Kinloss Captain Mathew Ward then barged his way over from a line out to score a converted try, which sealed his team’s win.
Matches between Lochaber and Highland have become the local derby so expect a hard fought battle on Saturday, kick-off at 3pm.
Lochaber squad:
I Smith, C Moorhouse, M Davies, C Mercer, D Maclean, S Whitaker, A Moorhouse, D Monk, R Moir, K Turnbull, D Campbell, C MacPherson, S Traill, P Fronczek, D Macdonald, A Garrick, B Knowles.
