Dragons return to action at Strathaven

Feb 23 2011 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

DALZIEL Dragons P4 and P6 min-rugby sides visited Strathaven on Saturday for their first matches of the year after a long lay-off due to the wintry weather.

The Dalziel P6 side played three periods of rugby against a strong home side.

In the first period, Strathaven turned over the ball and scored the opener despite brave defending by Declan O’Shea.

Their second try came after Dalziel knocked on and from the resulting scrum Strathaven crossed the line.

The Dragons responded with good attacking play by Lewis Tomlinson, Ruaridh Waddell and Grant Ritchie.

But the home side held firm and they crossed for a third try despite Michael Orr, Zac Knox and Tomlinson putting in some good tackles.

Dalziel were paying for their inability to hold on to the ball and after Tomlinson, Knox, Ritchie and O’Shea drove their side forward a knock-on allowed Strathaven to regain possession and run in a fourth try before the end of the period.

In the second period, Dalziel began well and after an attacking foray Liam Coltart thought he had a clear run to the line only for play to be called back for a forward pass.

From the scrum, Strathaven scored the opening try.

Finally Dalziel got on the scoresheet, Scott Carson and Michael Orr joining a maul and driving Zac Knox over the line.

Declan O’Shea broke up a Strathaven attack soon afterwards, allowing Tomlinson to score Dalziel’s second.

The hosts responded with a score before Tomlinson went over for two tries, with another Strathaven try sandwiched in between, which secured them a 4-3 win.

Strathaven took confidence from this and won the third period 6-0 against the tired Dragons.

The P4 clash between the sides was a titanic contest which finished 7-7.

The Dragons claimed first blood as Iain McNeill found space to run in at the corner.

Excellent tackling from Cole Lynch allowed Dalziel to regain possession and Aidan O’Neil soon touched down for a second try.

Strathaven made it 2-1 before Jack Lilly set up Ross Duguid for a third.

O’Neil scored a fourth following a jinking run by Jack Gemmell, who covered the length of the pitch to make it 5-1.

The hosts stormed right back into contention with four unanswered tries and only some excellent defending by Ally Hannah, Luke Duthart, James McIntosh and Aidan Beggs prevented a fifth.

Gemmell then bagged two more tries to take Dalziel into a 7-5 lead before another stirring comeback by Strathaven made the final score 7-7.

Aidan O’Neil’s last-ditch tackle prevented the home side from snatching victory in the closing stages.