Lomond Rugby Club's final day victory

May 7 2008 Lennox Herald

A FINAL day victory saved Lomond from the dreaded drop on Saturday — securing them division one rugby again next season.

Strong and spirited Lomond looked a different side to the one which suffered a 36-6 drubbing earlier in the season at the hands of the same opponents, and there was no chance they were going to allow this fixture to slip from their grasp.

Despite effective defending early on, Strathendrick struck first when their stand off struck a perfectly flighted drop goal to open the scoring.

But Lomond replied almost instantly as Strathendrick failed to clear their defensive line and a penalty was awarded, which Craig Norrie took inspiration from. Taking a quick tap and side-stepping numerous defenders, he touched down under the posts, for Nicholson to duly convert.

Lomond started the second half brightly, only denied scoring by desperate defending and debatable decisions from the referee, but it wasn’t long before Norrie added a second try to his tally in almost identical style.

A failed conversion and a defensive reshuffle for Lomond allowed the home side the chance to come back but they didn’t and Lomond revelled in excellent territorial gains.

Just one Strathendrick attack gave Lomond any cause for concern, but a juddering tackle from Lockhart stopped their move dead in its tracks and Lomond continued in their attacking vein.

A penalty 40 yards out saw Nicholson smash the ball on to the crossbar and through the posts to seal victory in both the match and in Lomond’s relegation battle.

Drew McGinty, Ewan Todd and Manus Flynn were outstanding from the back row but Lomond's man of the match was Craig Norrie, whose two tries are possibly the most important he will ever score.

But every man played his part, particularly the ones who carried injuries into the match.

Although the league season is now complete, Loch Lomond still have their own sevens tournament on Saturday, May, 24 at the Dillichip. All welcome.

Lomond: J Law, A McKay, J Urquahrt, G Tilley, D Nicholson, E Todd, M Flynn, D McGinty, C Norrie, G Mathieson, J Thompson, S Ferrier, A Fairman, D Lockhart, S Muir, B Turner, S Dennison.