Published: Wednesday, 16th September, 2009 12:00pm

Clydebank put through mill

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Clydebank 17 Millbrae 14

LOCK: strong arm tactics

THIS was a match against last year's Division Two undefeated champions and was a potential banana skin.

Millbrae are a very experienced team and managed to put Clydebank off their game.

However, even with the day's catalogue of challenges the team prevailed 17-14 and maintained the winning streak.

The match started with Clydebank very much in control. The first try came within three minutes when Paul Andrew picked up a stray ball from the back of the Millbrae scrum and sprinted for the line.

Ross McCombe was in support and took the pass from Andrew to cross the line. The conversion was missed and the score was 5-0.

Clydebank put Millbrae under a lot of pressure for most of the half but failed to capitalise on it with poor decision making and handling.

Robert Parr came close to several breaks but could not escape the close attention of the Millbrae defence.

Discipline also became an issue as the players became frustrated at their poor finishing.

Eventually, the pressure told and it was Ross Moffatt, who sneaked from the back of a ruck set up by Derek Nolan, to score the second try.

Again with the conversion missed, Clydebank were leading 10-0. Clydebank maintained the pressure but failed to increase the gap before half time.

The second half had Clydebank bickering amongst themselves and eventually this allowed Millbrae to sneak through for a converted try to cut the gap to 10-7 after 50 minutes.

Clydebank could not convert their pressure and Millbrae came close with two penalties after 60 minutes but failed to score them.

With 10 minutes left, Clydebank got some cohesion and managed to string together some attacks on the Millbrae line. Millbrae repeatedly disrupted the Clydebank attacks but eventually the referee could take no more and shortly after David Bell was carried off following an illegal tackle he awarded a penalty try to Clydebank.

Ross Moffatt converted the kick to stretch the lead to 17-7. This should have settled the Clydebank nerves but they returned to the disjointed play they had demonstrated all afternoon.

Millbrae took advantage once more and went through the Clydebank fringe defence at the loose to cross the line.

The conversion put the score at 17-14 and had Clydebank on the edge of their seats for the remaining five minutes.

Thankfully, the match ended without further incident and Clydebank can celebrate a win on a day which saw them fail to play anywhere near their full potential.

The third win keeps them second in the league and needing to add some bonus points to overtake the league leaders Wigtownshire.

The second XV travelled to Garnock for their second match but could only raise fourteen players. Garnock provided the extra man and the game was on.

Garnock won the match 29-10 but the Clydebank team had improved on the previous week's result and were upbeat about their performance.

Two tries were scored, with Connor Sloss and Owen Gent crossing the line. Connor had an excellent match at No.8 with his try coming from a pick up at the base of the scrum and a run for the line, handing off several defenders enroute.

The under-17 side took on GHA, who fielded several Scotland youth players, but failed to cross the line as GHA ran in 10 tries.

The GHA team showed a lot of skills which the Clydebank players should try to emulate. The team tackled well in spells but could not contain the strong-running GHA scrum half and stand-off who dominated the midfield.

The scrum-half scored several tries through the middle of the Clydebank defence without much resistance.

The under-15 team played their second match against Loch Lomond but

after a promising start, when they scored the first try, they failed to defend and finally lost 5-51. Several new players had promising starts and the team can only improve. The mini section joined with Lomond in their first combined training session in preparation for their first matches next Sunday away to Paisley.

Training will continue at Whitecrook on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7pm for both senior and under-17 players. The S1, S2 and under-15 age groups will train on the same nights between 5.30pm and 7pm.

Anyone at primary or secondary school who would like to take up rugby should contact Gordon McCombe (07812 582775) or Michael Starkey (07792 154625) for details.

Clydebank are currently seeking team sponsors. Anyone interested in supporting their local rugby club should email sponsorship@clydebankrfc.com for details.

Next week the 1st XV travel across Glasgow to play the Police while the 2nd XV play Dalziel at home.