A TERRIFIC crowd turned out at a bright and windy Violetbank last Sunday as a combined Annan/Moffat side triumphed 36-19 against Lanark to win the West Quaich Final.
A strong Annan/Moffat support arrived in good voice, eager for a victory.
The opening 20 minutes played out with little scoring action, both teams tentatively feeling their opposition out and possession changing hands regularly due to some rather loose ball-carrying.
Eventually, Lanark opened the scoring, their scrum-half peeling off a rolling maul and falling onto the ball.
This woke the local boys up and some powerful carries by Moffat loose-head prop Alex C provided the impetus for a quick fire double with tries from Ben R and Dan S. Ben R converted his try and Harry B the other.
The Annandale side grew steadily into the game, with a strong defensive effort led from the front by captain Aaron K.
Annan/Moffat led 14-5 at the interval.
The second half began with some fresh legs and it did not take long for Annan/Moffat to extend their lead.
Scrum-half Bradley G popped up with the ball, scuttled his way through a gap in the defence and offloaded well to centre Andrew A who gladly accepted the freebie and scored beside the posts, Harry kicking another good conversion.
Archie D then scored a good solo try not too long after, barging his way though some uncharacteristically suspect Lanark defending following a scrum infringement.
Just as it seemed like there were an awful lot of penalties being conceded (by both sides) for not a lot of cards, Lanark found themselves down to 14 for repeated high tackles. Ben R scored his second try from the penalty.
Annan/Moffat dropped the ball from the resulting kick-off and Lanark hit back immediately, their muckle number eight breaking tackles to score under the posts.
Ben R soon completed his hat-trick to put the game beyond doubt at 36-12, before Lanark scored a final consolation, their fly-half scoring and converting.
In the end, Annan/Moffat had too much for their opposition and their second half dominance came from a strong defence which simply did not allow Lanark a foothold in the match.
Elsewhere, Galloway U16 Girls, featuring a couple of Moffat players, beat Ayrshire 38-31 to win the Plate Final.
Meanwhile, Moffat’s senior side were defeated 29-17 by Mid Argyll at The Holm. Tomorrow afternoon the Rams host Paisley in a West Division Three encounter.
