On Saturday the 1st XV had the long trip to Oban for their last away match of the league season with the bus leaving Violetbank at 7.30am in the morning,

The starting 15 had 3 changes from the previous week but once again it was a fairly young looking Annan squad as the coaches look to next season.

Earlier in the season at Violetbank, Annan had comfortably won this encounter but in recent years at Oban, Annan have struggled.

The sun was shining on the Oban pitch as the teams took to the field. The Oban side looking that big bigger than then Annan lads.

It was really a game of two halves as in the first half Annan played their usual running rugby and had took the lead after 20 minutes when Ewan Campbell cross the whitewash for the 2nd time to put Annan in the lead 10-7. Oban having scored in the 5th minutes and Ewan with his first on the 15th.

Annan looked the better side but as has been the case a few times this season they conceded a try just before half time and the home side retook the lead 12-10.

Into the 2nd half and with the sun beating down, the Annan support were perhaps hoping this would play into Annan’s advantage but as it turned out it was the Annan players that started to flag as the match wore on.

With 15 to go the result was still in the balance, Oban had extended their lead to 29-20 but Annan had just scored and were looking to get that 4th try and perhaps 2 bonus points or even the win. Ryan Glass had scored the 3rd Annan try with Josh Whiteside converting to go along with an earlier penalty

But Oban, spurred on by their home support found an extra gear as Annan chased the game. The Annan defence started to fall off too many tackles and Oban were boosted by some more big players coming off the bench who all made an impact.

To cut a short story even shorter the home side ran in 3 tries in the last 15 minutes to take the win 48-20.

Not a great day at the office for Annan but while the scoreline did flatter the home side, Oban were worthy winners on the day.

With 2 matches to go, Annan now have a played 16 won 8, lost 8 record. The 2 matches left are at home to East Kilbride this Saturday and Kilmarnock the following week,

Both will be tough matches with East Kilbride aiming to keep their form up before their National Shield Final  while Kilmarnock technically need 1 more point to clinch the West 1 title although points difference wise they are basically up.

The Kilmarnock match could be interesting as it’s on the same day as the Warriors trip to Murrayfield for the National Plate final and most of Annan will be at Murrayfield!

Starting XV: 1.⁠ ⁠Ryan Glass 2.⁠ ⁠Kieran Warrick 3.⁠ ⁠Sean Armstrong 4.⁠ ⁠Fraser Hope 5.⁠ ⁠Callum Taylor 6.⁠ ⁠Mason Watret 7.⁠ Wallace Alexander 8.⁠ ⁠Ryan Hetherington 9.⁠ ⁠Josh Whiteside 10.⁠ ⁠Fraser McMillan 11.⁠ ⁠Ewan Campbell 12.⁠ ⁠James Kirby 13.⁠ ⁠Aitken Render 14.⁠ ⁠Bradley James 15.⁠ ⁠Aaron Carmichael

Subs (all used) 16 Eben Le Vin 17 Callum Smith  18 Murray Forbes 19 John Glendinning 20 Murdo Bruton