Classy Dunfermline ease past Dalziel

Dunfermline let their rugby do the talking in a 10-try victory

Dunfermline S2’s welcomed their counterparts from Dalziel (Motherwell) to a wet and windy McKane Park. Dalziel came with 14 players, so we decided to play them at 14-a-side.

Dunfermline started strongly and put Dalziel under immediate pressure, and this was rewarded with a try for Aidan in the right corner following a powerful carry from Euan.
Following this was the start of things to come from Dalziel – an unpleasant haranguing of the referee by the Dalziel captain which went on throughout the whole game and was left largely unchecked by the Dalziel coaches. Certainly the worst I’ve seen, and for those players and parents that are new to the sport, rest assured that this is not something we encounter very often at all!

Back to the game. Brief periods of Dalziel pressure were soaked up by the Dunfermline defence, and Dunfermline put together a series of decent attacks. After the referee marched Dalziel back 20m for back-chat (twice) from their captain following a penalty, Dunfermline spun the ball out wide for Logan K to score down the left flank. Soon after the restart another fine backs move from a scrum saw Duncan looping round to score down the left, and he scored another soon after by taking a pass from Andrew to put him through a gap and beat the covering defenders down the middle.
Dunfermline’s purple patch continued from the restart with a take from Charlie, a line break from Aidan and a clever pass to put Gregor in space to score. Next play, a scrum from the restart, Charlie passes to Andrew, who does a wrap-around with Duncan, makes the line break and feeds Gregor to score under the posts – great attacking play.

Another period of Dalziel pressure was again well defended, and a the forwards did well to take a scrum against the head, resulting in a simple backs move, a line break by Duncan, and a pass behind the line to put Gregor in space on his own 22, finished with a long gallop to the line.

By this time Ian, the referee, had finally lost his almost infinite patience with the Dalziel captain, and yellow carded him for swearing at the opposition.

Half-time score, Dunfermline 23 – 0 Dalziel

Second half. A good handling move starting with Oskar saw Finlee in space down the left, a lovely offload to Gregor, and finally Aidan carried through an out of shape defence to score.

Finally Dalziel put a good attack in from a free kick, rounding the Dunfermline defence on our right and scoring in the corner. Still a man short, they seemed to play better as 13 honest, hard working players who just got on with it as a team. They then soon scored a second by outstripping the defence on our left.

Soon after Dunfermline were back on the attack, with Kailo and Jamie combining down the left
then spun out down the right for Duncan to score – excellent use of space.
Kian made a terrific run down the blindside from a scrum nearly scored, then Andrew darted through the defence, only to unfortunately knock on over the line. Dunfermline again defended well from the following play and turned the ball over and some nice hands saw Finlee dive over to score.

A final attack from Dalziel saw Jamie make an excellent try saving tackle, which finished the game. All in all a decent performance.

Final Score, Dunfermline 32 – 6 Dalziel