Rugby report: Locals Birkmyre thrash Lochaber 39-5

The six hour round trip was well worth it, with the Kilmacolm side bringing back a bonus point win with a 39-5 victory.

The visitors showed their intent early on and were 7-0 up in the first five minutes.

A positive attacking phase saw number 8 Quinn Murphy break through the Lochaber defence on the halfway line. He then fed the ball into the hands of inside centre, Robbie Espie, who beat a couple more defenders to score under the posts from 20m out.

David Cruickshank, starting at 15, slotted the conversion.

Lochaber were very competitive and well in the game. However, Birkmyre scored their second try in the 19th minute. This time it was skipper, Ross Moglia, playing at 10, with a powerful run to touch down under the posts. Cruickshank again slotted the extra points.

Lochaber remained in the game throughout the half, but it was clear that Birkmyre had the upper hand. A few minutes before the half, Robbie Espie pounced for his second try. This time it was at the corner flag and the conversion was narrowly missed. This made it 19-0 to the Inverclyde-based side, giving them a commanding lead at half time.

During the break, Birkmyre juggled their line up with Cruickshank moving to 10 and the rest of the back line shifting one position.

They were also able to make a couple of personnel changes at the same time. These changes seemed to pay off with the second half starting in much the same fashion as the first.

Having more space now to stretch his legs at inside centre, Moglia scored his second try, again with a powerful run just five minutes after the restart.

Three minutes later they scored another. Attacking from their own half, Murphy again charged up the pitch. The ball ultimately made it out to half time substitute second row Liam Nicholas who ran a great supporting line to score his first try for the club near the corner flag, which was duly converted.

On the 54th minute, Birkmyre were reduced to 14 players with prop Arron Ajikobi seeing yellow for a high tackle.

This then led to Lochaber’s only try two minutes later. Being a player down was not enough to stop Birkmyre from continuing to add points.

Firstly, Cruickshank slotted over a penalty from 30m out on 58 minutes and this was followed up by a try in the corner from winger Ru McVie three minutes later to completely kill the game off.

The final 18 minutes saw no further scoring with possession swinging both ways. Lochaber came close to scoring on a couple of occasions however they were unable to breach a very dogged Birkmyre defence.

Birkmyre also knocked on when only inches from a 7th try.

The victory sees Birkmyre climb back to top of the league on 26 points with six matches played.

Moffat are on 23 points with Lochaber & Irvine tied on 19 each.