Dalziel climb off bottom spot

Dalziel..............17 Ardrossan.........13

Rugby

Dalziel Rugby Club moved off the bottom of the BT National 3 table with a hard-fought win over Ardrossan Academicals.

Despite coming in cold after their postponed fixture with Haddington, the Motherwell boys were still on a high after their previous win over Orkney.

Early on Ardrossan gave away a penalty for offside. From the resulting line out, Dalziel set up a diving maul which was illegally halted.

Again, Dalziel went to the corner, and after what looked like a clean sack by the visitors, the Dalziel pack regrouped and drove over the line; Bengy Barsanti getting the all important touchdown.

With 25 minutes played, Ardrossan gave away a penalty at a ruck on their 10 metre line. Scott stepped up to take the shot at goal, but the wind caught it and pushed it wide.

The visitors hit back through Kyle Wood after a neat offload by Bruce Hunter. The try was converted, and Ardrossan were now 7-5 up.

Soon after, Jack Anderson was given a penalty shot at goal after Dalziel had strayed offside. The fly-half converted and Ardrossan’s lead was now 10-5.

Dalziel’s Scott spotted half a gap and neat interplay with Quigley saw Scott put in to score, drawing them level 10-10 at half-time.

Straight from the restart, Ardrossan put on the pressure and Anderson converted his second penalty attempt of the afternoon to retake the lead for the visitors.

With 15 minutes left to play, Dalziel’s Barsanti and Burrell powered up the left wing, before play swung across the pitch to find Skinner on the opposite wing. Skinner evaded four would-be tacklers to run in and score under the posts from 40 metres. Andrew Glover converted, and Dalziel were 17-13 up.

Heading into the last five minutes, Ardrossan thought they had scored in the right-hand corner, but a superb covering tackle by Andrew Miller stopped a certain try.

With only a few minutes left to play, and Ardrossan on the charge, Barsanti made a crucial interception to secure the win.

The Second XV were also in action, overcoming East Kilbride 22-14.

Dalziel rushed into a 17-0 lead at half-time through tries from Ryan Wilson and Fraser McKenzie, plus seven points from the boot of Davie Stewart. East Kilbride hit back early in the second half with two converted tries, but Connor Meikle barged over with two minutes to go to seal the game for Dalziel.

Next week, the First and Second XVs host Hillhead/ Jordanhill and Glasgow Academicals, while the Third XV are away to Allan Glens.