Hamilton Rugby Club triumph 16-1 over Cartha QP

Dec 3 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

A HAMILTON side with a different look to them got their Premier 3 campaign back on track with a hard-fought win over Cartha Queen’s Park.

Injury forced new coach Stuart Eynon’s hand. While he welcomed back Richie Maxton after three weeks on the sidelines, he lost Ali Marshall and Robert Cowie to illness and John Selfridge to a training ground injury on the previous Thursday.

David Gemmell started in the second row, Grant Thornton and Grant McCowan made their season’s debuts in the back row and a shuffled back division had veteran Gerry Hawkes on the wing, with centre Craig Sangster moving inside to replace Owen McLeish, who moved to full-back, with Craig Inglis stepping forward into the centre.

Hamilton started well and put immediate pressure on Cartha but despite Elvis Levi and Hawkes going close the score remained blank.

Cartha went closest when a break saw Andrew Scott race upfield but a brilliant tackle by David Gemmell forced the Cartha player to knock the ball into touch.

Skipper Andy Lamont collected and darted upfield for the visitors but Russell Coutts covered, forcing him into touch.

Despite their possession, Hamilton only had two clear-cut chances to put points on the board and they both came from penalties in the final five minutes of the first half.

Owen McLeish converted the first from 40 metres but the second fell short so Hamilton had to settle for a 3-0 interval lead.

Within a minute of the second half, Cartha were level when Alex Boyle converted a penalty from almost the exact spot as McLeish’s successful kick.

When Craig Inglis’s restart failed to travel the required 10 metres, there was a collective groan as Hamilton’s crowd feared they would again fail to build on their dominance.

However, Maxton rallied his troops and Thornton, Levi and Coutts took the game to the opposition.

But again, despite dominating, Hamilton couldn’t find a breakthrough until, 15 minutes into the half, Thornton rose to collect David McGrath’s throw and fed Nathan Denholm, who offloaded to Levi and he broke through the middle to the 22.

Cartha were penalised for not rolling away in the tackle and Denholm took the quick tap, Sangster fed Hawkes, and the winger dashed towards the corner.

Full-back Allan Howie managed to halt the Laigh Bent man five metres short but Hamilton kept possession and Jason Agnew drove towards the line.

Gemmell and Maxton were first to the breakdown and Denholm fed left to Dave McLean, who was stopped a metre short.

Levi and Gemmell were next to try their luck and when Denholm switched ball right the crowd roared as Thornton looked to have got in but the ball popped out and Hawkes was forced into touch.

Hamilton again tried in vain to breach the Cartha defence and when a penalty was awarded it looked like they had blown it but Denholm disrupted scrum-half James Cappell as he tried to pick up from the set-piece and McCowan kicked the ball forward.

As Cartha scrambled to clear, Levi and McLean combined to block the kick and Elvis reacted quickly to collect and dive over for the try. McLeish’s conversion attempt drifted wide but Hamilton led 8-3.

Hamilton went back on the attack and, when Maxton secured a lineout, Denholm fed left to Sangster, he found Coutts and the pack arrived in numbers to drive forward.

Denholm fed back to Sangster in the box and the stand-off drop-kicked from 23 metres, giving Hamilton an 11-3 lead.

Five minutes later, Hamilton secured the points when Cartha were penalised for pulling down the maul and a quick take by McLean was fed to Thornton, who crashed over in the corner for 16-3.

With 12 minutes remaining, it looked like Hamilton would go further ahead but when Maxton had the line open, the referee blew for an infringement and Coutts was sent to the sin bin for reacting after he was held.