Dalziel earn vital win over Orkney

Dalziel ................... 36 Orkney ................... 19

Rugby

Dalziel scored five tries as they blew Orkney away in a crucial BT National League 3 encounter.

The hosts knew a win was vital in their quest to stay in the National Leagues.

On the 10- minute mark, Bengy Barsanti stole a lineout and charged forward. This gave a platform for Andy Scott, Thomas Quigley and Cammy King to gain vital territory for Dalziel. They had moved 25 metres up the pitch, when Orkney gave away a penalty at the ruck.

Opting to forgo the shot at goal, Dalziel went quick and Ryan Burrell took them into the visiting 22. The ball was shipped wide from the ruck to Andrew Glover, who shrugged off two would-be tacklers to dart home and score to the right of the posts. Glover add the extras to take Dalziel into 7-0 lead.

Orkney’s first score of the day came from a Dalziel knock on inside their own 22 and it was scooped up by the visitors. The ball was popped from the back of the ruck to Scott Rendall who was able to run in and score at the left of the posts. Bain added the extras to level the scores.

Almost immediately from kick off, Dalziel gave away an offside penalty just inside their own half. Bain had now found his kicking boots and thumped over the long penalty with only inches to spare. This put his side into the lead at 10-7.

Dalziel were about to return to full strength, when the were awarded a lineout about 30 metres from the Orkney try line. Kris Watters won the ball cleanly, and it went from Stephen Baird, to Scott, Quigley, Glover and Lee McWhinnie. McWhinnie broke the gain line and was through on the full back. He beautifully drew his opposite number then passed to Burrell who glided in to score under the posts. Glover converted and Dalziel were back in front at 14-10.

As the clock went red, Orkney were awarded a penalty in front of the posts for offside, and Bain kicked the three points to take the half-time score to 14-13.

Dalziel kicked off the second half, and Orkney gathered the ball cleanly inside their own 22. Bain put a massive clearance kick in that took the ball up to the Dalziel 10-metre line, where it was gathered by McWhinnie.

McWhinnie moved towards the touch line and passed to Stevie Rowe. Rowe paced up the wing before being tackled on the 22-metre line and offloaded to the supporting King. King only had to beat the Orkney full back in his race to the line to score between the posts. Glover converted and Dalziel were now eight points ahead.

With 30 minutes left of the match, Bain reduced Dalziel’s lead with a shot at goal after a Dalziel ruck penalty.

Glover was given a shot at goal after an Orkney high tackle and pushed Dalziel back to an eight point lead at 24-16.

Within two minutes though, Bain had pegged it back to five points with another penalty kick.

After a clean Dalziel scrum, Davidson picked and passed to King who offloaded to Quigley. The centre dashed through a gap in the Orkney defence and made it inside the 22 before being closed down. He passed back to King, who then returned the ball back to Davidson for the number 8 to score under the posts. Glover converted to take the score to 31-19.

Orkney restarted the match in the hunt for a second try that would give them a crucial losing bonus point.

They tried to spread the ball wide, but a tackle by Burrell forced the ball to be spilled. Rowe was on hand to hack the ball forward and win the foot race to dot down for Dalziel’s fifth try of the afternoon. Glover missed the touchline conversion, but it mattered little as Dalziel had won 36-19.

The Second XV had no game, while the Third XV were away to Hillhead/ Jordanhill, going down 17-14 in a tight match.