Dalkeith’s last home game and penultimate league match of the season arrived on Saturday at Kings Park and with it the opportunity to clinch the East Region League Division 2 title.

Fourth placed Livingston provided the opposition & no doubt travelled from West Lothian with the intention of ruining Dalkeith’s big day.

Dalkeith’s starting line up showed one change from the convincing win last week over Dunbar with Sutherland replacing the unavailable Stephen McMillan in the back row, whilst there were places on the bench for the returning Sives & Wilson.

The 1st XV pitch was still showing the effects of sustained use over the winter months and considered too damaged to stage such an important fixture so for the second week running the game was switched to the smaller 2nd team pitch.

Weather conditions were calm but with enough of a chill in the air to serve as a reminder that Spring is still a bit away, underfoot was good to firm suggesting the large crowd could be in for an entertaining expansive game of rugby.

Mascot for the day Max Clugston delivered the match ball to the half way line and exited the pitch to a warm round of applause.

Scrum Half Young got things underway with Dalkeith attacking down the small slope towards Kings Park School and quickly regained possession when Jamie Rae forced an early turnover earning a penalty within sixty seconds.

Skipper for the day and Dalkeith stalwart Halliday decided it was within kicking range and a shot at goal was signalled.

Young stepped up but his attempt from just short of half way was pulled left and the score line remained pointless.

Young made amends almost immediately from the restart after possession was secured as he sent a beautiful kick to corner, the 50 – 22 resulted in a Dalkeith lineout which the pack fielded superbly, mauling deep into the Livingston 22. Clean ball was released to the backs with D Mcmillan carrying strongly to set up another phase of play, 2 further carries resulted in Livingston straying offside in the shadow of their posts and presenting another penalty chance for Dalkeith, this time a far easier kick which Young made no mistake of.

Dalkeith 3 – 0 up after only 2 minutes

Rae Snr rose like a salmon to collect the restart allowing Young to send a testing box kick high into the sky. Livingston collected and fed their no.10 who sent a probing kick to the Dalkeith corner, Stansfield gathered and passes infield to Young who again sent a strong kick that fortunately touched an opposition player and bounced into touch just short of the Livingston 22.

Hooker Sneddon, a much-improved player in the 2nd half of the season found Walker from his line out throw and Dalkeith were on the march again. The ball soon arrived at outside half Clugston where a pre-planned move with Center Reid sliced the Livingston defence apart, Reid has been unstoppable from striking distance this season and this time proved to be no exception dotting down under the posts leaving Young the simple task of knocking over the extra 2 points and a 10 – 0 lead after 8 minutes.

All good so far.

Due to the one-way momentum of the 1st 10 minutes, one could be forgiven for thinking Dalkeith were in for a comfortable afternoon with Livingston only there to make up the numbers.

However, our visitors soon tore up the script and decided to write a version of their own after Dalkeith were guilty of trying to play rugby in the wrong areas and conceded a penalty for holding on at the breakdown. Livingston sent their penalty deep into touch, line out possession was secured and their not inconsiderable sized pack rumbled over the try line wide out for a try of their own followed by a beautifully taken conversion. Taking the score to 10 – 7.

Dalkeith’s response was to force a penalty of their own after Livingston’s pocket-sized centre was caught offside at around his own 10 metre line. Young needed no second invitation to send a decent nudge through the sticks for another 3 points and a 13 - 7 lead after 15 minutes.

A late tackle by the burly Livingston No.8 provided another good platform for Dalkeith. However, a squint line out throw from the kick to the corner halted progress for that particular phase of play and the chance was lost.

Livingston by this point had recovered from a slow start and were making the game a more even contest. Play raged on with no quarter asked or given until E Lockhart covered a Livingston kick over the top & attacked Right. Good cover tackling brought Lockhart to ground; Dalkeith worked the ball to the opposite flank finding R Lockhart at full pace. Strong support play had the greens agonizingly close to a 2nd try but Livingston rather cynically conceded a penalty.

Dalkeith chose to ignore the option of an easy 3 points instead attempting to force their way over but J Rae was held up over the line giving Livingston respite with a goal line drop out. The drop out was a beauty and Dalkeith find themselves with a line out back in their own half.

The key to the previous weeks victory over Dunbar had been Dalkeith’s sheer dominance in the physical exchanges, this week was a totally different story as the Livingston team had a fair few lumps of their own & as the game wore on it obvious that this was not a team that would be easily bullied.

However this Dalkeith team are not a bunch of one trick ponies and the second try came courtesy of Standoff Clugston’s vision for defensive frailties.

From a Livingston defensive scrum 10 meters out the Dalkeith pack piled into overdrive to steal back possession. This caused disarray in the Livingston defence as they rushed up to close off the Dalkeith attack leaving no full back cover. Clugston identified this and sent a deft chip over the top then sprinted through to collect his own kick and score a fine individual try next to the posts.

Young somehow managed to miss the tap in of a conversion but he’s had a good season so we’ll move quickly on.

18-7 with half an hour played.

Dalkeith’s defence has been resolute this season & for the 10 minutes before half time was severely tested by Livingston’s big runners, most notably their big 2nd row & number 8. The green line held firm with Thomson & Davidson standing out with big hits as the ref blow for half time.

The 2nd half kicked off with Dalkeith no doubt feeling the score was too close to be comfortable and keen to score the first points.

The opportunity arose when Livingston were pulled up for a side entry at a breakdown within kicking range. Young pulled his kick wide before Livingston worked their way down the pitch to earn a penalty chance of their own which was slotted by their no.9 making the scoreline that bit tighter at 18-10.

Dalkeith rung the changes at this point with Rae Jr, Rae Snr & Sneddon leaving the field after a solid shift to be replaced by Sives, Ogweno & Corcoran.

Ogweno made his presence felt immediately after a big hot on his opposite number dislodged the ball, Reid took possession making some hard yards into the Livingston 22. The ball found Corcoran with Dalkeith on the surge but he was pinged for a double roll on the deck.

This allowed Livingston back in where moments later they converted another kickable penalty bringing the score to 18-13.

Dalkeith’s mettle was being tested entering the last quarter of the game. What was required was a decision or two in their favour and the presence of a calming influence. This came in the shape of Michael Wilson’s successful penalty attempt after good work by E Lockhart pressuring the Livingston back line.

With the score now 21- 13 Dalkeith were frustrating penalized from the restart. Livingston kicked to the corner from a lineout 10 meters out. Livingston were unable to secure the ball allowing Walker to hack through to half way, it looked as though a Dalkeith player might be first to the ball but were illegally blocked by the defence.

Wilson fancied his chances of knocking over the resultant penalty from half way so the posts were chosen. Wilson’s confidence was well placed as he dissected the uprights expertly raising a huge cheer from the Dalkeith support.

24-13 with around 10 minutes left.

As fatigue kicked in the match became error strewn with penalties conceded regularly by both teams. One such Livingston penalty was dispatched between the posts beautifully by their no.9 from around halfway closing the gap to 24-16.

Dalkeith needed a big close to the game to secure the win and ultimately the league title. Their cause was helped when Livingston’s no.5 received a straight red card for a cheap punch at Halliday although Corcoran was sin binned for retaliation at the same time.
Moments later Livingston were down to 13 men when their no.7 got his marching orders for a dangerous tackle.

It looked as though the clinching score was a certainty when Ogweno was held up yards short only for Davidson to knock on over the line, however with the Livingston pack decimated due to their own ill discipline the resultant scrum saw the Dalkeith pack put the power on leaving Ogweno the simple task of touching down for a match winning score.

Kick missed 29-16

Entering the last few seconds and Dalkeith again found themselves on the attack, a 20 yard rolling maul was delivered out to the back line where Clugston danced through the struggling defence for his 2nd and Dalkeith’s 4thth try and a bonus point win.

Wilsons kick was good making the final score 36-16 and the league title was ours.
Huge congratulations to Coach Hendrie and his squad for such a successful season. They’ve represented our club brilliantly and produced rugby they should be proud of.

There was a party atmosphere around the clubhouse after the game with the scenes lasting well into Saturday night/ Sunday morning and no doubt a few soreheads at work on Monday

The season’s not over yet though with a trip to Hawick Harlequins due in April.
Details will be posted closer to the game.