Boars steam to victory in long-awaited game

Next to cross was Dougie Ritchie with his first of the day, quickly followed by Liam Long showing great speed to skip past his opposite winger.

MacDonald then added to his personal tally of the day with a try and the following conversion.

Last Mid Argyll try of the half went to Ritchie with a “Try of the Season” contender in a perfectly executed backs move which saw the ball shift from Elliot Lindsay on one side of the pitch through to MacDonald onto Archie Spencer and when the ball arrived at Ritchie he chipped it over the defence and scored out wide. He then converted his own try.

Throughout the first half the Boars were dominant in every area, running the ball wide through the backs and then hitting the defensive line with strong forward carries.

Mid Argyll controlled this game with smooth efficiency, right until the stroke of half time, when Hyndland were awarded a penalty eight metres from the Boars try line.

Quick thinking from the visiting attack and a bit of complacency from the Boars allowed Hyndland in right under the posts. The resulting conversion was the last act of the half and Mid Argyll went in leading 48-7.

At half time Mid Argyll made sweeping changes and this allowed the coaches to bring on the club’s youngest senior player, Vinnie Buckley. Vinnie has been dispensed to play up to senior level and came on in the scrum half position.

With Mid Argyll now running towards the pavilion end the team looked to bolster their dominant first half performance.

 Hyndland had other ideas though and they came out well, forcing the boars back towards their own line. The pressure soon paid of for the visitors as they drew first blood in this half and went over to score and convert.

Mid Argyll soon got their rhythm back though, and it wasn’t long before the speedy Ritchie was crossing the line again for a very impressive senior hattrick which he again converted from out wide.

The game turned into a bit of a battle for a while as the Glasgow team fought hard to restore a bit of pride with a stoic second half start.

It wasn’t long before Mid Argyll re-asserted their dominance and added to the score sheet again, this time through Euan MacArthur who was rewarded for an imposing performance throughout the game and showing great support play following brother David towards the line as, once again, David smashed the defence.

This time as David was being stopped he managed to release an exquisite pass to Euan who powered over from close range.

Ritchie added the extras before E. MacArthur again crossed for his second of the day. A great team effort to get the ball into the opposition’s 22 and again Euan blasted over from five metres out. With Euan now leading the MacArthur try battle 2-1 on the day, and determined not be out done, D. MacArthur added his second and the Boars final try, which Ritchie again converted.

The final score was Mid Argyll 74 – 14 Hyndland.

Mid Argyll’s Fyne Ales Man of the Match was E. MacArthur for an indomitable performance throughout the day. A special mention should go to Dougie Ritchie for his hat-trick which takes his tally for the season to 10 so far.

The club would like to thank everyone who came to watch the game and cheer the team on, as well as club sponsors Jolomo Studio, The Crawford Group, Glic and Fyne Ales for their continued support.