Injury-hit Langholm show promise in opening-day defeat
Last updated 11:56, Thursday, 04 September 2008
LANGHOLM made the journey to play Dalziel in the opening National League division one match of the season with eight first team regulars missing because of various reasons.
Dalziel 25 Langholm 7
In fact, the Milntown men made it a fairly even contest for much of the match and there were times when the match could have swung in their favour.
Dalziel were 6-0 ahead at the half hour with a brace of penalties but Langholm had failed to capitalise on a number of chances.
Eventually, a well-worked move at the back of the scrum saw No8 Stuart Graham pick up and attack the defence before feeding scrumhalf Craig Hislop, who went for the gap and pulled in the defence before releasing flyhalf Colin Jardine on a great run to the line for a try which he also converted.
The new law which says there is no limit to the number of players in the line-out was catching Langholm out at times and allowed the home side to make inroads, with extra runners out wide.
Just after the break, weak defending by Langholm gave Dalziel space and the home centre grabbed a converted try to make it 13-7.
Langholm still looked capable of holding the opposition and had chances but weak tackling at vital times allowed Dalziel to get into attacking positions and they stretched into an 18-7 lead. Dalziel added a third try which was converted but Langholm never gave up the fight and the hosts failed to get a fourth touchdown for the bonus point.
The Langholm scrum was fairly solid throughout but there were problems at the line-out and the positional kicking was poor.
With players missing it has been difficult for the coach to get any fluency and work on set moves and it is always going to be difficult with a small squad. But a near full-strength side will test most, if not all, of the sides in National League one.
Dalziel included Scotland under 20 No8 Craig Simmonds in their side, having returned from Heriots, along with centre John Goldie. Flanker Paul Beer was back from New Zealand.
Langholm: R McKay, L Kinstree, B Lamb, N Cubbon, G Murray, C Jardine, C Hislop, S Hotson, S Devlin, S Jardine, L Graham, R Morrison, J Reid, S Nicol, S Graham.
Results: National League division one: Dumfries 59, Berwick 7; East Kilbride 11, Murrayfield Wanderers 22; Edinburgh University 8, Cambuslang 20; Dalziel 25, Langholm 7; Howe of Fife 80, Preston Lodge 8; RHC 11, Annan 5.
Langholm Colts 7 Melrose Wasps 76
AFTER several years on the sidelines, a Langholm Colts team got back into action in the Border semi-junior league at Milntown last Saturday.
It was a tough opener against a well-drilled Melrose Wasps outfit who had former Scotland and Lions coach Jim Telfer helping with the coaching and shouting instructions from the touchline and Langholm suffered a heavy defeat.
The visitors had a solid pack and speedy backs and ran in 12 tries, of which eight were converted.
Langholm got off to a bad start and conceded a couple of converted tries in the opening five minutes. Credit must go to the young home side who battled back and had a period of pressure in the Melrose 22 which went near to producing points.
Two penalty chances came the way of Langholm but they opted to tap and run and the moves were stopped.Melrose added a brace of converted tries and were 28-0 ahead with 28 minutes played.
A superb break by home fly half Jack Pool saw him go on a 40-metres run down the touchline for a great individual try which Andrew Bell converted from a difficult angle.
Colts never gave up but the visitors piled on the pressure and the backs ran through a tiring Langholm defence and added six tries in the last half hour.
The Langholm coaches were a bit disappointed with the scoreline but pleased to see the lads show plenty of grit and determination.
They can be worked on to improve play but a good turnout at training is needed to get fluency and rehearsed set moves to work.
Langholm: A Bell, G Reid, R Bone, M Hill, J Devlin, J Pool, G Irving, S Tweddle, L Miller, S Jammeh, R Bell, T Massey, S Howatson, L Miller, J Maxwell, S Kitching, G McManus, R Allan.
Pathways rugby
Russell Anderson and Neil Cully were in the Eastern Stormers side that played extremely well to hold an older Kelso Harlequins team to a 17-17 draw at Poynder Park.
Cully played the opening half at hooker and Anderson took over for the second half and both impressed in a strong forward display.
Joe Dickinson and Lewis Hawes played for Roxburgh Raiders in an under 15 round robin tournament at Melrose which also involved East Lothian, Berwickshire and Selkirkshire.
All the matches, which lasted 20 minutes each, were tight affairs, with Roxburgh Raiders winning one out of three, and the Langholm lads acquitted themselves well.
Fixtures
Langholm are at Milntown this Saturday in a National League division one match against RHC who beat Annan 11-5 last Saturday. Kick-off is 3pm.
The Colts are away to Berwick Colts.
