Match Report from: ANDREW “AJ” JANCEY

Annan 1st XV travelled the long journey to Oban last Saturday for their latest West 1 match.

Annan started out well and with set piece was also operating well and Annan were on top of the scrums and lineouts.

The plan was to move the home sides heavy older front row around the park by kicking and turning them and by switching the play to try and find them in the defensive line. Unfortunately the Annan backs weren’t able to execute it as well as was hoped, with a few kicks being poorly chased and/or miss kicked. This was disappointing as the kicking game has been on point in the previous few matches.

And although Annan did spread the ball wide, the home side tracked back well and the Annan backs couldn’t build on the momentum and ended up being tackled into touch or turned over.

When Annan tried to speed the game up they often failed to see the opportunities and made decisions to kick to touch instead of tapping and going. And also with injuries piling up due to some robust Oban defense and the opponent more streetwise, Oban were able to slow the game down and take momentum away further still.

As always Oban are different at home. And they took their chances well but this feels like an opportunity lost once more due to poor execution and occasional lack of vision. But it was a young Annan team on their first big away day, staying the night before, so a lot learned in a way.

A good try by Josh Whiteside kicked through by standoff Fraser McMillan was our consolation so at least we took something from the day.

The final score as 33-7 to Oban but the scoreline was not really a reflection of the effort the Annan players put into the match and all in all a game with a bit more composure and execution, the Annan lads could have been travelling back to Annan with a few more points but thats rugby and if you don’t take your chances you are often punished, especially when the opposition take almost all of theirs.

Eben Le Vin was named Annan player of the match. Well deserved Eben.

The 1st XV have their last match of 2025 on Saturday when they welcome promotion chasing Carrick to Violetbank. Will be another tough match as Carrick are one of the promotion favourites but Annan also need the points to put some breathing space between them and the relegation spaces. 2pm KO.

Annan 1st XV Squad  (all subs used): 1.⁠ ⁠Ryan Glass (C) 2.⁠ ⁠Kieran Warrick (VC) 3.⁠ ⁠Callum Taylor 4.⁠ ⁠Frazer Hope 5.⁠ ⁠Mason Watret 6.⁠ ⁠Eben Le Vin 7.⁠ ⁠Wallace Alexander 8.⁠ ⁠Rohan Cother 9.⁠ ⁠Zak Stevenson 10.⁠ ⁠Fraser McMillan 11.⁠ ⁠Aitken Render 12.⁠ ⁠Josh Whiteside (VC) 13.⁠ ⁠James Kirby 14.⁠ ⁠Scott Norman 15.⁠ ⁠Aaron Carmichael 16.⁠ ⁠Sean Armstrong 17.⁠ ⁠Murray Forbes 18.⁠ ⁠Callum Smith 19.⁠ ⁠Ben Latimer 20.⁠ ⁠Ben Conroy