Helensburgh Lomond’s under-18 side enjoyed a dominant performance against Lenzie last Saturday (October 1) chalking up a 50-0 victory.

From the outset it was a spirited, feisty game of rugby. Lenzie had arrived with a strong squad and it was soon clear that simply running into their defence or trying to engage in protracted work at the breakdown or set piece was not going to work.

Recent coaching focus at Helensburgh Lomond had been all about going forward in attack, drawing the defence and quick offloads, all perfectly demonstrated when a quick ruck ball from just outside the Lenzie 22 ended with Toby Clark drawing a couple of defenders and a nice offload to TJ Lambert on the wing to open the scoring.

The conversion by Cameron Gow opened a good afternoon for his left boot.

By half time, TJ Lambert had scored a second try and after sustained pressure by forwards and backs, Luca Gibson drew a penalty try.

A score of 21-0 appeared healthy, but Lenzie continued to press, calling on the other aspects of recent coaching, namely the restart, line speed and individual tackling.

In every area, the boys stood their ground, bringing a frustration and anger to the visiting side, as well as much deserved and well worked tries from Cammy Picken, Oscar Deighan, Alex Tacchi and the third from TJ Lambert.

Three more conversions from Cameron Gow took the final score to 50-0.

A spokesperson for Helensburgh Lomond Youth Rugby commented: “The under-18 squad has made an excellent start to their season and as a group, are working hard to build a culture and style that is properly representative of youth and rugby.

“A final mention goes to Lewis McElney, the newest member of this group and one who played his part in a good win for his debut.”

Meanwhile, the under-16 side also enjoyed victory at the weekend, coming out 64-53 winner in its fixture against Lenzie.

It was a 19 try thriller at Ardencaple - but for the first time this season, Helensburgh Lomond went behind.

Lenzie, keen to assert size and physical dominance, took an early lead through a well worked try, starting in their own half. It was the test of character the 16s needed.

From the resulting restart Helensburgh Lomond put Lenzie under pressure inside their own 22 and powerful rucking from Mace, and Ethan saw turn over ball to release the speedy backs for a converted score.

Fired up by the score, Helensburgh Lomond stretched their legs and quickly set about racking up the tries with Euan, Tom and Shaun all crossing the whitewash. However Lenzie hit back in style, playing to the blustery conditions and adapting to the wet slippery ball they scored freely themselves.

After a breathtaking first half, it was 31 all at the break.

The second half continued in the same fast pace. Helensburgh Lomond, playing with depleted numbers, are a force to be reckoned with this year, their fitness being the reason they are a potent attacking threat from anywhere on the field.

This was demonstrated early in the second half, pinned to their line, the back row of Solomon and Harry turned ball over as Lee powered through gaining hard yards to set up an attacking ruck that fed through to pacey backs, Rhuairidh releasing Shaun and Kyle to storm towards the Lenzie try line only to stopped metres short.

From the resulting quick ruck, Gethin was able to snipe from the base and score right under the posts. Lenzie never gave up and continually pushed Helensburgh Lomond, breaking through tackles and moving the ball well.

Aside from the six tries to Euan, two for Tom and one apiece for Gethin and Alex, without the lineout steals from Solomon, Tom McVeigh putting in some sterling tackles and defence work and the trusty conversions of Rhuairidh this could so easily have gone against us.

To concede nine tries at home shows there is still lots to do, line speed and defence is crucial. Coaches Pete and Ian have a few weeks to work on this as there is now a few weeks' respite ahead of the home development fixture against Kelpies on October 16.