LOCH Lomond Rugby Club’s mini sides travelled to Helensburgh for fixtures against Helensburgh and Whitecraigs on Sunday, September 13.

The P1-3 team, wearing their Arnold Clark strips, played three games against Helensburgh’s P3 team. This was the second outing of the season for these young players, with some new additions, Alex and Lewis, making their Lomond debuts.

Throughout the games, the coaches and referee were impressed with the way the players consistently grasped the laws of the game, moving back on-side after making the touch tackles to allow play to continue. Lomond worked well as a team, with the more experienced players keeping the new starts right during the games.

Lomond had a fantastic defensive line, and were spread out evenly across the pitch, they made life difficult for the Helensburgh players. In attack Lomond showed some quick running and managed to find gaps to side-step into, resulting in many well-deserved tries.

This was a very evenly matched encounter and a great training game for the players.

The P4-5 team took on a Helensburgh and Whitecraigs P5 mix in their first game of the day. From the off Lomond put into practice the rucking skills they have been working on in training.

This saw multiple phases of play and great retention of the ball. All of this combined saw Lomond score some excellent team tries. Add to this some great individual tries from Gregor Munn and the team ran out 4-3 winners.

Next to face the Lomond team were Helensburgh’s P5 team. This match was even tighter and both teams contested the breakdown well and a final score of 3-3 was a fair reflection on the game.

The third game, against a mixed team, saw Lomond go two tries down but they never let their heads go down and fought back to 2-2.

They had no sooner drawn level than they were behind again. Once again they dug in and worked another two tries to run out 4-3 winners. A fantastic display of rugby from this team.

The P6 team played two matches against hosts Helensburgh and Whitecraigs, with both games ending 3-3. Both games saw Lomond take the lead however they allowed the opposition back into the games.

The team played some attractive running rugby at times, however a few handling errors and indecision at the breakdown put them on the back foot at times.

There were lots of positives to be taken from the match and some hard work at training will only see the team develop as a unit.

Training continues on Mondays from 6-7pm and Sunday from 12-1pm at the club for P1-7 players, to prepare for the next fixture on Sunday, October 4 when the minis are away to Cumbernauld.

S1-4 players also train Wednesdays 7-8pm at the club.

Anyone interested in playing rugby, please contact John on 07802698841 or visit www.lochlomondrugbyclub.co.uk or search for Loch Lomond minis and juniors on Facebook.