Dalziel Dragons took part in mini-rugby festival

Feb 25 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

THERE was no love lost on Valentine’s Day as Dalziel Dragons took part in a mini-rugby festival hosted by old rivals Hamilton.

The P3-P7 sides were invited to the event where they joined teams from Glasgow club Hillhead/ Jordanhill.

The Dalziel P3 youngsters started proceedings, securing an excellent 7-2 victory over Hamilton thanks to opportunist scores from Jack Lilly (2), Ross Duguid (2), Aidan Beggs, Aidan O'Neill and Andrew Caulfield.

Dalziel edged ahead early in the match and a combination of stubborn defending and creative attacking saw the Motherwell side win comfortably.

For the P4s, this was their first competitive outing for several months but all the players rose well to the task.

The Dalziel side defeated Hamilton 7-3 in a match which was played in a competitive spirit by both sets of players.

Tries were scored by Owen Jeffries (4), Olivia McPherson (2) and Hayden Muir.

Their next game was against Hillhead/Jordanhill and both sets of players put in some solid tackling, with Dalziel winning the game 6-3 .

There was one score each for Jamie Lang and Olivia McPherson, and four by Owen Jefferies.

Hamilton and Dalziel clashed again and both sides were keen to stage another derby thrilling for the watching fans

After a close first half, Hamilton were ahead at the interval after a good spell of possession in the middle of the field saw them enjoy the bulk of the pressure.

But a stirring fightback in the second period saw Dalziel make it a double success by running out winners 5-3.

Bradley Palmer scored twice and Owen Jefferies three times to bring his try total for the day to a stunning 11.

All the P4 try scorers were ably assisted by teammates Andrew Tweedie, Andrew Findlay and Josh Lannigan.

The Dalziel P5 group had enough players to field two sides at the Hamilton tournament giving many youngsters a great day of competitive rugby.

The first team, captained by Orphlaih King, played the host team and opened the scoring quickly through Zak Knox.

Hamilton though came back strongly and levelled matters.

The lead then changed hands several times before the match eventually finished in a 6-5 win for the Hamilton lads.

Dalziel’s scorers were Paul Bradshaw, Lewis Tomlinson, Abigail Quinn and Liam Coltart.

This match was contested largely in the middle of the park with hard tackling from both sides beig the main feature of the match.

A slightly inexperienced second Dalziel team took on Hillhead in the next game.

Dalziel’s Ruaridh Waddell opened the scoring and the Motherwell side romped home 8-2 winners with Ruaridh, Michael Orr, Robert Kerr, Ellis Lee and debutants Austin and Cameron going over.

Dalziel P6 team were involved in a hard-fought game against Hamilton, going into the break all even at 1-1 thanks to a great try from Jordon Macafferty.

But the match swung in the favour of the hosts in the second half as they grabbed a 4-2 win, with Callum scoring Dalziel’s other try.

An increasingly impressive Dalziel P7 outfit saw off both Hillhead and Hamilton.

In the first game against Hamilton, Dalziel scored seven tries thanks to the efforts of Andrew Glover, Alan Bowles, Ross Mitchell and Ben McAlorum.

The Hillhead game was much harder-fought with the sides level at 2-2 going into the break.

Dalziel upped the tempo in the second half and eventually prevailed 5-3.