Big guns put out Hamilton

Feb 8 2007

HAMILTON were dumped out of the National Cup fifth round in no uncertain terms by Premier 1 side Heriots.

And, following the 10-2 try victory, the Laigh Bent side are in no doubt about what is needed before they can compete at a higher level than their own Premier 2.

Hamilton were considerably weakened for this game, missing seven first-team regulars in the squad that travelled to Edinburgh.

This forced boss Ian Morrison into a number of positional changes, while blooding young 2nd XV starlets.

Stand-off Kenny Diffenthal was in at full-back, while Ron Strydom’s scrum-half berth was filled by 2nds coach Alex Reid, allowing the South African to partner 19-year-old Craig Inglis in the centre.

Reserve regulars John Selfridge, Tony Malley and Ian Bower joined Chris Hunter on the bench.

It took Heriots just seven minutes to get on the scoresheet and they never looked back.

Tammas McVie was credited with the first score, following a good chargedown by Mark Lee, and Graham Wilson converted the try for 7-0.

Despite periods of Hamilton pressure, Heriots ran in four more tries ahead of half-time, with good team play setting up Mark Lee, Marc Teague (converted by Wilson), Apolosi Satala and Will Oldham (converted by Wilson) for a 31-0 lead.

Heriots went further ahead within five minutes of the second half.

Teague collected the ball from Lee at the scrum base and chipped ahead.

Ian Plenderleith gathered but opted to pass to Diffenthal, who was immediately put under pressure and Heriots turned the ball over.

Wilson found OJ Brown, and his loop pass to John Houston allowed the centre to step over the line.

Wilson again converted for 38-0.

Heriots were reduced to 14 when Kenny Blyth was sin-binned but when he returned to the fray they further increased their lead.

A lineout on the right was secured and ball went across the back division to Teague, who made an angled run to the corner for a 43-0 lead.

Hamilton grabbed a score back in 60 minutes after being awarded a scrum just outside their 22.

Despite being driven back, Craig Collin took the strike and David Gemmell picked up, going blind.

Quick ball to Reid was fed out to Gerry Hawkes, who raced 50 metres down the wing before finding Craig Sangster, and the Hamilton captain touched down in the corner, reducing the deficit to 43-5.

Heriots weren’t finished, however, and reached 50-5 six minutes later when Teague scored his hat-trick, with Wilson again converting.

Heriots’ ninth try came in the 75th minute when Satala, now playing at wing-forward, stepped through the Hamilton defence to touch down under the posts for his second try of the afternoon. Wilson’s conversion stretched Heriots into a 57-5 lead.

As the game moved into the final minute, Andrew Wilson broke through to score try number 10, with Graham Wilson’s conversion giving Heriots their final score at 64-5.

Hamilton grabbed another consolation in the closing seconds.

Awarded a penalty on Heriots 10-metre line, Sangster took a quick tap, feeding right to Reid, who found Matt Gray. He in turn fed Plenderleith, recycled ball went to Selfridge and he broke the first line of defence, before Inglis took it forward, turning to feed Barsanti out of the tackle.

Barsanti took it on before slipping ball to David Gemmell, who charged for the line before popping a pass to Ian Bower to crash over his first-ever try.

Diffenthal’s conversion brought the final score to 64-12.

Hamilton are next in league action on February 17, when they visit Hillhead/Jordanhill.