Garnock Take All Five Against Strathmore

On Saturday Garnock welcomed Strathmore to Lochshore for their first league fixture of 2026. This was a game side Garnock needed to win in their battle to remain in National 3

 

The game kicked off in pleasant overhead conditions. The pitch was in good condition despite the rain earlier in the week. The first half was end to end with Garnock opening the score after 24 minutes through a try from Keir Walker conv good 7-0. This seemed to galvanise the visitors and they replied with two quickfire tries both of which were converted to take the score to 7-14 after 30 minutes.

 

Following a number of penalties by the visitors Garnock were attacking from a lineout in the 22. A secure catch and subsequent drive over the line saw hooker Richard O’Neill dot the ball down. Conv good 14-14

 

With only a couple of minutes to play in the half Strathmore again attacked through their backs breaking the Garnock defensive line to touch down taking the half-time score to 14-21

 

The next 40 minutes were going to be crucial to Garnock’s season and they could not have got off to a worse start. With only three minutes of the half played the visitors broke out from midfield through their No8 who fed a supporting back who covered the final 30 metres to score . Conv successful 14-28

 

A few stern words behind the posts followed and whatever was said had the desired effect. For the remainder of the game Garnock dominated proceedings at times producing their best rugby of the season. Four further tries were added by Matt Shiells, Per Jacobson, Stuart Wilson and Sefo Turaga. The pick of the bunch was finished by Per Jacobson following excellent interplay between the scorer and full-back Aaron Purewal. Three of the scores were converted by Keir Walker who also added a penalty taking the final score to 43-28

 

This week Garnock make the long trip north to face Aberdeen Grammar. These sides have met three times in the last two seasons in what have been extremely close yet high scoring games. With Aberdeen Grammar still in the promotion battle and Garnock fighting for safety this is sure to be another tough battle.

 

Garnock squad v Strathmore  Shiells, O’Neill, Chapman, King, Collins, A Miller, Watson, S Wilson, Kearney, R Walker, Turaga, Vatuloka, K Walker, C Smith, Purewal  Reps C Wilson, F Miller, Anderson, Jacobson

 

 

 

 

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