Dalziel dominate but cannot cross the whitewash

Apr 13 2011 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

Dalziel Rugby Club

DALZIEL Rugby Club produced their best performance of the calendar year on Saturday but were unable to find a way past county rivals Hamilton, whose victory at Dalziel Park secured them a return to Premier Two.

Dalziel will be disappointed they took nothing from this much anticipated Lanarkshire derby, having had the majority of the territorial advantage throughout the afternoon.

The home side started well but Ross Inglis knocked over an early penalty to give the Bulls a 3-0 advantage in the opening minutes.

Hamilton’s line then came under a period of sustained pressure as the game was played inside the visitors 22 but solid defending managed to keep them at bay.

Hamilton’s defensive efforts were rewarded when Ash Mason scored the opening try of the game after fine build-up play.

Ross Inglis added the extra points to give Hamilton a 10-0 lead.

Despite the scoreline, the Dalziel scrum weree giving their Hamilton counterparts all sorts of problems and Simmonds was regularly able to pick up at the back and set up move after move.

After another period of pressure from the home side, Robert Simpson slotted over a penalty goal on the stroke of half-time to reduce the deficit to seven points.

In recent games, Dalziel have fallen off the pace in the second half but not this week.

They came out firing and again dominated the game.

However, as in the first half, Hamilton were not going to be denied the points they needed to secure promotion and they threw themselves into the tackle, producing some excellent scrambling defence.

Dalziel’s John Harris was sin-binned as tempers frayed but even with a man advantage Hamilton found it difficult to put this game to bed.

Near the end, the visitors claimed the vital next score, with Craig Inglis going over in the corner, much to the delight of the large Hamilton support.

His brother Ross slotted a difficult kick from out on the sideline to make it 17-3.

Again Dalziel pounded Hamilton’s line in the remaining minutes but to no avail and it was the Bulls who were left to celebrate promotion along with champions Whitecraigs.