Dalkeith travelled the short distance to our neighbours Lasswade in the second pool match of the national bowl.
Dalkeith have dominated this fixture over the last two season in festivals and 15 a side fixtures, and the Ladies were determined to maintain that in this game, and Boy did they!

Dalkeith kicked off the match towards Rosewell and good pressure on the chase resulted in a spill and the first scrum of the game.
A solid scrum and good hands to outside centre Alina Prokopenko, freshly returned from under 18 regional rugby, who hit the line at speed and coasted through the Lasswade defenders to touch down for the first try of the match. Converted by Bell.

Dalkeith collected the scrappy kick off as it bobbled over the 10m line and good hands from Halliday and Nangle sent Roche through a gap and up to halfway before being brought to ground, the ball was recycled but it was a but frantic and Brunton on the wing collected and brought the ball back in to midfield with good footwork and hard running.

The ball again recycled from the ruck and this time it was Roche putting Turner in to the gap on half way and a run of all of 50, cruelly just short of the line. However, Turners quick thinking to recycle and the great support allowed Bell to pick and dive over the line for the second score, Bell converting her own try.

Dalkeith were straight back on the attack and from a Lasswade lineout they were quickest to react to the loose ball, Halliday collecting and charging forward, leaving defenders in her wake (all that cross fit paying off). The ball was moved out wide, stretching the defence and a quick switch allowed Roche to make a great run into the 22, before offloading to the supporting Halliday who with a powerful handoff dragged the last defender with her over the line for Dalkeith’s third try in 10 minutes.

With such a strong start there was inevitably going to come a little complacency and a move away from our structure as players went rogue, that coupled with some indiscipline in defence allowed Lasswade to get some ball and recover a little from the onslaught they’d faced.

They pushed in to Dalkeith’s 22 for the first time and despite some good defence marshalled by both wingers, Campbell and Brunton they managed to secure a lineout and after a couple of good phases managed to get the ball wide and find some space to go over in the corner.
19-5 after 20 minutes, and probably the jolt that Dalkeith needed to focus their efforts.

Dalkeith were pretty comfortable in the scrum, however a little to eager from the tight five saw them penalised for driving Lasswade beyond the 1.5m allowed followed up by hooker Dunbar not retreating 10 yards before tackling the quick tap runner resulted in a team yellow card for her and 10 minutes in the bin.

This was to be Lasswades best period in the match, where they had a bit of go forward ball and territory, however it was short lived as Dalkeith reasserted themselves, a good kick and chase from Bell with great pressure from the Dalkeith defence allowed a steal at the breakdown and Hayhurst to charge up field. Unfortunately taking an injury in the process, she was replaced by Rachael McIntosh at centre.

Her first interaction was to stop the Lasswade attack dead and take the ball from them. The resulting phase allowed MacNamara to release Prokopenko to run at the defenders again and with the same result, gliding through from halfway to score under the posts. Converted by Bell.

Lasswade kicked off and McLean returned the kick putting pressure on the Lasswade winger who was stripped of the ball by Roche who then sped down the wing to score in the corner, the conversion unluckily came back of the crossbar.

During this phase McCathie was replace by Thomson, who was straight into the action with a couple of strong runs.
Also in this period of play Nangle managed to make a tip pass to herself from a run and charge into the defenders, not something we’ve practice at training but maybe we’ll work on it.

From a Dalkeith scrum a good break by Roche at eight and support from MacNamara got the ball out to Brunton on the wing to dive over for her first of the day.

Half time changes saw Pam McIntosh on for Eilidh Duff, who had worked solidly in the pack through the first half and Georgia Vickery replace Dunbar at hooker, who other than the yellow card been in the thick of the tight exchanges and hadn’t missed a throw in the lineout all half.

The second half started a little scrappy from both teams and there wasn’t a huge amount of ground made by either side, although Dalkeith looked to be the more inventive, trying to get the ball wide and in to space and attempting to release our wingers with pass picks from Bell to the wing, only really beaten by the bounce.

However eventually McIntosh took the ball and charged through the defenders, before popping to her centre partner Prokopenko who scythed through the defence once again to race clear to complete her hat trick. Converted by Bell

Not to be outdone Dalkeith’s next score came from McIntosh a good hand phase from the backline and a well-timed pass from Bell released her on the opposition 10m parting the opposition centres and crashing over the 15 before handing off the backrow cover and touching down under the posts. Converted by Bell.

The next try was textbook stuff from Dalkeith, an attacking scrum on our 10m line with direct running lines from the backline allowed the pass out the back to Alina Prokopenko in to space and she did not disappoint, speeding in from halfway to score her fourth of the day. Converted by Bell.

Dalkeith went straight back on the attack, another run from Prokopenko before offloading to McIntosh to charge for the line, agonisingly just short, but well recycled and tidied up by the backrow of Roche and Pennycook, before the snipe from MacNamara to cross the line. Converted by Bell.

Roche was next on the score sheet, in what was an incredible individual effort. She collected the kick off, charged back at the oncoming Lasswade pack, handing off the first tackle and outpacing their pack down the wing, to out pace their centre and cover to dive over. Absolutely outstanding effort. The score again converted by Bell.

Lasswade looked in disarray and a few injuries certainly didn’t help them, they surely would have been relieved to see Prokopenko subbed off, however she was replaced by Hayhurst recovered from her knock and player of the match in Dalkeith’s last outing, so little relief really.
Another two changes in the front row saw Williams replace Thompson at hooker and Robertson replace Nangle at tighthead.

Great set piece play with a clean lineout off the top set Bell running in to the Lasswade midfield, beating defenders and looking for the chance to play others in to space, eventually offloading to Hayhurst who set up the breakdown, quick hands from the backs saw the defenders held and McIntosh and McLean combined to release Brunton on the wing, stepping her opposite number before powering through the last two defenders to score an excellent team effort.

The last score of the game came from a scrum on halfway, another good hand phase move saw McIntosh released around halfway and in her usual style she powered through and past defenders down the 15m channel before rounding in under the posts. The last conversion slotted by Bell who had been outstanding with the boot all day.

The game ended shortly after with the final score Lasswade 5 – Dalkeith 83, had to be quick to see it on the scoreboard as the guy running it couldn’t get it down fast enough!

Credit to Lasswades players as they kept on working until the end, but Dalkeith were on a different level today. To be able to play the way they did with some outstanding team scores and individual performances in a local derby shows the character and determination of this squad.

There will surely be sterner tests ahead, and there is a lot of work to be done, but in the spirit of enjoying the moment Dalkeith deserved all the praise from their vocal support.

In a performance like that it is always hard to pick out an player of the match, but Number 8, Kayleigh Roche put in a great shift in attack with her support runs and when she was on the ball and in defence with some fierce tackling was Dalkeith’s player of the match. (I’ve also been reliably informed by Ali Nangle that she may be Irish)

Well done to the whole team, a fantastic performance and shows the hard work at training is paying off!

Dalkeith’s next match is away to Dunfermline/Bannockburn on the 2nd of March at Bannockburn. 2pm Kick off. All support is welcome, so if you can make the hours trip up the road please do.