Hamilton Rugby Club prepare for critical games

Nov 26 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

WITH a visit by Cartha Queen’s Park on Saturday Hamilton Rugby Club kick off a crucial four-game period that could make or break their season.

New interim head coach Stuart Eynon goes into the Laigh Bent clash knowing that the coming weeks could determine whether the Bulls remain in the Scottish Hydro Premier 3.

Following Saturday’s clash, Hamilton travel to Irvine on December 5, Perthshire visit Laigh Bent seven days later, and that is followed by a trip to Musselburgh on the 19th.

With 10 games to go Hamilton are exactly midpoint in the table, but five of the six teams in the bottom half are six points or less behind... and three have a game in hand.

Saturday’s opponents Cartha Queen’s Park are one of those with an extra game to play, and victory would see them leapfrog the Bulls.

Eynon is well aware of the task in hand and said: “We just lost 32-26 in a close encounter against Cartha in Glasgow on the second week of the season, and we would obviously be delighted if we could turn that score around this time.

“Everyone involved at Laigh Bent is disappointed with our recent form and we want to use this weekend as the start of the rest of our season.”

Former 1st XV captain Eynon (32) added: “Cartha, like ourselves, are in a period of rebuilding and have also had a mixed season so this makes it a difficult one to call.

“The players have been putting in extra effort and I hope for the sake of the youngsters in the team they start to get the results their efforts deserve.

“Despite the results, our core support has remained behind the team, but hopefully we can get a large turnout for this match to encourage the guys to perform as I know they can.”

With Scotland playing Argentina at Murrayfield, the Bulls game will kick off early – but at the time of going to press discussions were underway as to whether it would be a noon or 1pm kick-off. The international game will be available on the big screen in the Laigh Bent clubhouse following Hamilton’s clash with Cartha.