Dalziel Rugby Club head coach Graham Calder: We can avoid relegation this season

Calder (right) leads Dalziel out in Decembers Shield final loss to Greenock

The Motherwell team are bottom of Tennent’s West Division 1 on 13 points, with third bottom Strathendrick on 27 points having played one more match.

But Dalziel at least gave themselves some hope of avoiding relegation with a 34-5 home success over Cambuslang on January 26, their last game before a three-week break due to the Six Nations.

“The bottom two teams go down but I think the win against Cambuslang gives us a really good chance of avoiding relegation,” Calder told the Times and Speaker.

“I still feel as if we have a good enough squad to climb up to third bottom in the table.

“The primary target is to get out of the bottom two. After that, anything is a bonus.

“Our performances in recent weeks have been getting better and better.

“We have played well in the last three or four games and knew if we did that against Cambuslang then we would win. The main reason we have improved in recent weeks is having consistency of selection.

“Key personnel have been back available again and that has really helped.

“A standout against Cambuslang for us was Iain Davidson, who played at back row and was outstanding in attack and defence.”

Dalziel were idle last Saturday and won’t be in action again until a crucial league trip to Stewartry on Saturday, February 16.

“I would rather we didn’t have the break,” Calder added.

“The fact that we are trying to get consistency means the break has come at the worst possible time.

“So we need to find consistency in training and make sure we hit the ground running in our next game against Stewartry.

“We are training the same number of times but it has more emphasis on fitness and skills work as opposed to preparing for a game on the Saturday.

“We will be analysing other teams, but it will be more a case of building the boys’ skills and fitness levels.”