Hamilton rugby captain sets his sights on promotion.

Dec 31 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON Rugby Club captain Richie Maxton has set his sights on pulling the Bulls up into the Scottish Hydro Premier 2.

With the Laigh Bent side currently lying fourth in Premier 3, 19 points behind leaders Hillhead-Jordanhill, Maxton is aware that promotion is something of a long shot.

In fact, he’s treating it as a bonus rather than a must-do, but with several games left and five points to play for in each, Maxton hopes the Bulls can do it.

He said: “On the whole the season has been good. We started well, dipped a bit, and in the last few games results have picked up a bit.

“The target is to take each game as it comes.

“Promotion is a long shot, but there is a chance for us to get there and we’ll try to do it.

“To get promotion from where we are at the moment would be a massive achievement and it would be fantastic, but it’s not going to be easy.

“However, you never know what can happen. We’ll treat it as a bonus if it happens, and it’s good to have that target, but we’ll see how we get on.”

The Bulls captain added: “It’s a long shot... but at least it’s a shot.”

For Hamilton that path starts on January 9 when they welcome Morgan Academy FP to Laigh Bent.

The Dundee side defeated Hamilton 27-13 at Forfar Road in October and Maxton admits they have a point to prove.

He said: “It was blowing a gale that day and we didn’t deal with it very well.

“We’re looking for revenge in this game. The boys will be up for it, and we feel that we have a point to prove to Morgan.

“They have three or four good players and we let them run the show, so we want to prove that we can deal with that.

“That defeat also started something of a slump for us and we lost six of our next seven games, so it was a knock to our confidence.

“In our last three games we’ve played well, scored 12 or 13 tries and conceded only one, so we’re stopping teams.

“That shows a real desire and our confidence is high.”

Hamilton resume training on Saturday following the winter break.