Hamilton Rugby Club suffer costly defeat against Hillhead/Jordanhill

Nov 5 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON slumped to another costly defeat against league leaders Hillhead/Jordanhill going down 3-27 at Laigh Bent on Saturday.

Owen McLeish kicked off towards the town for the hosts and Hills immediately made their intentions clear when Douglas Crichton collected in his own 22 and burst to halfway.

Nathan Denholm’s tackle halted the charge, but Hills arrived in numbers to retain possession.

Full-back Angus Twaddle popped a kick into space down the right and although Craig Inglis was over quickly to pick it up, he was forced into kicking to touch, giving Hills an early lineout.

Crichton secured possession and the visitors drove deep, and when Hamilton halted their momentum Hadden Macpherson spun the ball left and David Paterson cut through the home defence to touch down under the posts. Twaddle converted for 7-0 after just two minutes.

Hills were looking dangerous but some heavy tackles from Craig Sangster and Dave McLean let them know that the route through the middle was now closed.

With 10 minutes gone Hamilton nearly scored when Craig Inglis found a gap, fielding a high kick from Twaddle midway inside his own half and racing forward to halfway, where Hills were penalised for offside.

McLeish looked to have nailed the long kick, only for the ball to slam off the upright. Hills’ clearance was collected by Elvis Levi who ran it back strongly, but the Bulls were penalised and the visitors cleared.

Hills doubled their advantage when Denholm was caught in possession, Robbie Williamson used his pace to move the game into the 22 and Paterson was stopped just metres short.

Hills maintained the pressure with Stuart Rose and Stuart Ross attacking on the right, but the Hamilton defence held.

Macpherson switched play left, Hamilton’s defence looked to have coped, but the ball squirted out from the ruck and Dan Witko reacted first to ground the ball. Twaddle added the conversion for 14-0.

McLeish replied quickly for Hamilton when Hills were caught offside at the restart, reducing the deficit to 14-3.

Hamilton started the second half well, but Hills quickly regained the upper hand and Twaddle converted a penalty from in front of the posts for 17-3.

Chris McGeogh, David Gemmell and Chris Stannage came off the bench to replace injured Robert Cowie, John Selfridge and Craig Inglis as Hamilton regrouped, but Macpherson, Martin and Twaddle were all kicking accurately to the corners to keep the Bulls pinned in their own half.

Martin again found space with a diagonal kick and the Hamilton defence seemed to have it covered, only to stop and stare as sub Robert MacDonald collected without challenge and ran forward, feeding inside for Ross to run in unopposed. Twaddle converted for 24-3.

Hamilton attacked McLeish’s restart, securing the ball and moving it left where Craig Sangster broke through but was unable to get his pass away.

Richie Barnard brought ball back and McGrath ensured Hamilton retained possession with the pack driving forward, using Gemmell, McGrath and Levi.

For the first time since the break Hamilton got close to the visitors’ line with McLean, Levi and Gerry Hawkes being stopped just short.

Hamilton were trying to get into the game while Hills were looking for their bonus point-earning fourth try, and in the end neither succeeded, with Twaddle instead converting a penalty for 27-3.