Dalziel ready for Murrayfield final

May 1 2008 By Andy McGilvray

DALZIEL Rugby Club head to Murrayfield this weekend, where they will take on Preston Lodge in the Scottish Hydro-Electric Bowl Final.

During an extra training session last Sunday, Dalziel named the 22 squad players and reserves for the Murrayfield final.

Those on kicking duties will head to the national stadium in Edinburgh for some practice tonight (Thursday).

The squad is: Baird, Barclay, Czarnocki, F. Duguid, G. Ferguson, Findlay, Harris, McLatchie, McMillan, Morrison, Phillips, Reid, Simpson, Turnbull, Watson. Subs: E. Ferguson, Hill, Lewis, Love, McLaren, Paton, Sloan.

So far over 400 tickets have been snapped up by the Dalziel support.

Buses will leave from Dalziel High School in Motherwell’s Crawford Street, on Saturday at 10.30am, returning from Murrayfield at around 3pm. The match kicks off at 12.15pm.

Tickets, priced at £10 for adults and £5 for children, are still available, with bus travel costing an extra £5.

Tickets can be ordered by calling Watson and Co on 01698 277733.

In what could have been a good warm-up for the final, Dalziel clashed with Cambuslang in a league match on Tuesday but lost 33-21.

For the opening 30 minutes, Dalziel played great rugby, with prop George Sloan breaking free from a maul to score the opener.

Andy Hill converted and the same player was on hand to add the points shortly afterwards when Eddie Ferguson scored near the posts.

Cambuslang scored two converted tries in the 10 minutes leading up to half-time, with captain Andy Dick scoring and Duncan Weir converting, before Sandy Hutchison added a second try, and Weir again added the extra points.

Within 10 minutes of the restart, Cambuslang scored another two tries as Dick grabbed his second try of the day, with Weir adding a third conversion.

The 16-year-old then went on a mazy run past 10 Dalziel players before scoring and adding the points himself for a 28-14 lead.

With 10 minutes to go, Cambuslang scored a fifth try when Dick broke forward, passed to Gregor Jones, beat a couple of players and went on to score in the corner.

Weir was off-target with the conversion but Cambuslang led 33-14.

Dalziel grabbed a consolation score when a series of tap penalties close to the line saw young stand-off David Aitken score under the posts, with Hill again converting.