Hamilton RFC finish fourth after defeat at Hillhead/Jordanhill.

Apr 15 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

Hillhead/Jordanhill 62 - 20 Hamilton RFC

A DEPLETED Hamilton squad travelled to Glasgow for their final Scottish Hydro Premier 3 fixture against Hillhead/Jordanhill on Saturday.

For the first time newly-appointed coach Dale Lyon was on the touchline but won’t have had an accurate representation of his new charges.

Several have left since Saturday and rebuilding work will start in earnest.

Hills got things underway and were soon applying pressure on the Hamilton line.

Although Owen McLeish managed to clear deep, Hills’ Cameron McCulloch and Dan Witko were soon bringing the ball straight back and only solid tackling kept them at bay.

When ball was spilled during a rare Hamilton attack Stuart Ross brought it back for Hills, setting Nicholas McAuley free to burst through the midfield.

Hamilton managed to bring things to a halt inches from their line and secure a scrum, with John Selfridge picking up and passing to Steven Morley, who in turn fed McLeish to launch the ball downfield. Angus Twaddle collected and came straight back at Hamilton before David Armstrong went deep, earning a penalty. Twaddle slotted it for 3-0 after 20 minutes.

Hamilton attacked and when Ross Oattes secured lineout possession the Bulls earned a penalty, with McLeish levelling.

Hills regained possession from their own kick-off and slick passing saw the ball fed out wide to winger Archie Miller to crash over for 8-3.

Again from the restart Hills attacked and a McCulloch looked to be in for a try before he was stopped by Chris McLaughlin.

Hamilton were under real pressure and when Hills elected to take a scrum at a penalty award it was pulled down, with a penalty try awarded. Twaddle added the extra points for 15-3.

Hamilton pulled themselves back into the game shortly afterwards when McLeish slotted a penalty for 15-6, and from the restart Selfridge burst forward and set the backs loose to move the ball quickly out to Chris Stannage, who showed everyone a clean pair of heels to spring for the line. McLeish’s conversion put the Bulls back in it at 15-13.

In a frantic last couple of minutes before the break Twaddle added a penalty for Hills but when Selfridge got the ball to Craig Inglis, via Andy Stephens, he sliced through the midfield and scored under the posts, with McLeish converting for a 20-18 lead.

Hillhead/Jordanhill came out for the second half determined to get themselves back in front.

The hosts made all the early running and sub David Simm took the ball on before his forward colleagues smashed their way to the line for a try from Greg Haswell, with Twaddle converting for a 25-20 lead.

Shortly afterward McCulloch and David Mitchell broke free, setting up Haswell for his second try of the afternoon.

From the restart Ross made good ground and supplied David Paterson to score in the corner for 35-20.

Hamilton were dispirited by this point and had no answers as Hills continued their onslaught.

Another three tries were added before the half-hour mark with Marty Lane, Steven Longwell and Miller all getting their names on the scoreboard for 50-20.

The scoreline could have been much worse had Hills managed to convert any of the tries, but with Twaddle off injured this was one area where they seemed to be lacking.

However, Hills managed to add further tries when Douglas Crichton and Witko crossed for the line, with David Mitchell’s drop-kicked conversion providing the final 62-20 result.

However, Hamilton have ended their season in fourth place, a position few would have predicted early in the campaign.