Following a comfortable victory away to Renfrew last week, Lomond Helensburgh’s under-16 side continued their fine form with another commanding win, 84-14 away to Dalziel.

Confidence was high ahead of the opening cup fixture, despite only 15 players making the short trip to play on the all-weather 4G pitch.

The opening score set the tone for the day. From the kick-off, Lomond Helensburgh took the game to Dalziel and launched an attack from their own half, strong running saw two quick scores in the opening few minutes.

Dalziel were stunned and then quickly conceded a third and fourth score. Lomond Helensburgh ran fast and straight, tackled low and rucked hard.

It was a whole team performance that was strengthened, ironically, when they lost Kyle to injury in the first quarter.

Tom McVeigh put in a full game shift in the second row with Harris Maclean, the front row of Lee, Ethan and Mace kept the scrum steady and took a few against the head which let the back line run freely.

The back row of Solomon, Ben and captain Harry hunted the field as a trio, pouncing on anything spilled, tackling anything that came their way.

Gethin and Ruairidh easily dictated the game because of the forwards’ work, the returned ball was speedy, which suited the free running of Ewan and Alex and enabled them to have a personal scoring battle.

Charlie found himself in unfamiliar territory in the centre while there was another solid performance from Tom on the wing; indeed, he covered both wings after losing Kyle.

As pleasing as the result is, coaches Ian and Pete were really pleased with low penalty count, low tackle height and commitment shown, with Ian adding: “Ball recycling and ball retention were superb and this has now given us a great platform in which to launch ourselves into this competition.”

Lomond Helensburgh’s next match is at home against Oban on February 5. Kick-off is at 2pm.