SLIPPING INTO DANGER ZONE Defeat leaves Dalziel one place above safety
RHC Cougars .. 27 Dalziel .. 19
Dalziel slipped to one place above the relegation zone following defeat on Saturday.
After a three- week break for the Autumn Internationals, Dalziel were looking to make some distance between themselves and 10th placed Perthshire.
However, an inspired RHC performance lifted them to victory.
Dalziel’s indiscipline in the early stages allowed RHC to spend some time in the visiting 22 and, after repelling two drives, RHC kicked for goal and went 3-0 up through the boot of Allan Sutherland.
Dougie Clark was tackled just short of the line for Dalziel but after the RHC player didn’t roll away, they were awarded a penalty five metres from the try line.
Ross Donnachie took the tap and fed the ball to Kris Watters who was held up over the line.
From the scrum, RHC infringed and Dalziel opted for a second push over.
As the scrum wheeled towards the line, Gary Thornton broke off and scored under the posts.
Andrew Glover converted to put Dalziel into a 7-3 lead.
RHC hit back immediately from a scrum.
As a quick change of direction opened up the Dalziel defence to allow Dougie Sutherland through to score. Allan Sutherland converted to take make it 10-7 in RHC’s favour.
From the restart, Dalziel regained possession and worked their way down the field.
The forwards hit the ball up, sucking in the RHC defence, and after one ruck, Donnachie noticed a large gap to the side of the ruck and darted through to score Dalziel’s second try of the game.
Glover converted to put Dalziel back in front at 14-10 at the half.
Early in the second half Chris McIntyre flew down the wing to score in the right hand corner for RHC to once again swing the game back towards his side.
Allan Sutherland coolly converted to make it 17-14.
Dalziel gave away an offside penalty which Sutherland converted, and stretched RHC’s lead out to six points.
With 10 minutes left to play, Dalziel dragged it back to 20- 19 through Thornton.
A late Ross Buchanan try sealed RHC’s victory as Alex Mowat was sent to the sin bin.
The second and third XV’s also came away with defeats.
The second string lost 79-0 away to GHK, while the third XV lost 70-15 at Whitecraigs.
Next week, the first and second XVs host Greenock, whilst the thirds host Irvine.