Dalziel RFC 20 - RHC 13

Dalziel returned to winning ways with a win over Edinburgh side RHC. It was an error strewn victory with both sides guilty of over elaboration and handling errors, but the home side did show encouraging passages of good play particularly by the forwards. Most of the scoring took place in the first half with Simpson converting two penalties arising from Dalziel pressure, before excellent driving forward play allowed Morrison to touch down for the first try. Again Simpson converted. RHC relieved the pressure with a break-out which Dalziel defended poorly and an interchange between Welsh and Buchanan gave RHC a try, duly converted by full back Welsh. This score rattled Dalziel’s confidence and RHC enjoyed a good spell of play, which earned them a further penalty, taken by Welsh, which narrowed the Dalziel lead to 3 points.

However, good forward play helped steady the home defence and gradually Dalziel regained the initiative. Watson’s clever kick gave Czarnocki the chance to take on two RHC defenders at speed and he scored in the corner with Simpson kicking the difficult conversion for Dalziel to lead 20 points to 10 at half time. The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with Dalziel having much of the territorial advantage but making errors in midfield which allowed RHC to break out and threaten the Dalziel line.

The home side’s composure was not helped by a series of bewildering refereeing decisions which led to both Beer and Barclay being yellow-carded. However the home side dug in and defended the inevitable pressure with determination, only conceding a single penalty to Welsh and ultimately holding on for a valuable 20-13 victory! Hopefully this win will stand them in good stead for next weeks difficult trip to Greenock Wanderers.