Hamilton Rugby Club clock up impressive win at Dunfermline

Sep 23 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON rocketed up to second place in the Scottish Hydro Premier 3 table on Saturday following an impressive win at Dunfermline.

The Fife side, who were relegated from Premier 2 last season, got things underway but Hamilton immediately attacked.

An early penalty award enabled Craig Inglis to put the ball into touch to give the Bulls excellent field position, Richie Maxton secured the lineout and John Selfridge drove forward before the ball was quickly spun wide for Ross Inglis to ghost in for the opening try. Ross added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Dunfermline tried to find their way back into the game but Gregor McNeish was wide with a penalty attempt.

Hamilton resumed their attack and from a clearance kick Ron Strydom pulled the ball back in and brought it back towards the Dunfermline line, before unloading to Craig Inglis, who burst through the midfield for try number two, with brother Ross tagging the points for 14-0.

Hamilton added their third try with five minutes remaining of the half, using pace out wide before Craig Inglis took the ball back inside and passed to Strydom, who sailed in under the posts. David Sutherland converted for 21-0.

Straight from the restart an impressive move involving Selfridge, Steven Morley, Craig Inglis and Chris Stannage had Dunfermline on the back-foot and there was nothing they could do to stop Strydom from taking play on and supplying Sutherland to crash over for the bonus point try, the scorer converting for a 28-0 half-time lead.

Coach Dale Lyon made several changes at the interval to ensure all his young squad had game time and Owen McLeish, replacing Sutherland, kicked off the second half.

It didn’t take Hamilton long to get back on the attack and when Robert Cowie and Jason Agnew rumbled through the middle, Stevie Turnbull took over and the sudden injection of pace opened up the defence as the scrum-half darted through for the fifth try. McLeish converted for 35-0.

In stopping Leo Short’s progress, Chris Hunter won a scrum for Hamilton, Selfridge picked up and released Turnbull.

Supported by Strydom and Selfridge, the trio demonstrated some impressive interchanging before Strydom crashed over for the sixth try. McLeish’s conversion moved the score on to 42-0.

With full points in the bag Hamilton switched off somewhat for the next 15 minutes, allowing Dunfermline to stretch their legs.

Driven forward by Gavin Swankie and some good forward pressure, Graeme Lowe pulled a try back with McNeish converting.

This galvanised the hosts and the Dunfermline pack rumbled forward with Adam McCormack going over and McNeish converting, reducing the gap to 42-14.

But Hamilton stretched their lead when Fraser Watt burst through the centre with Maxton in support and the skipper took it on before feeding right to Calum Crawford, who sped past the defence to score try number seven. McLeish added the conversion for 49-14.

David McGrath collected the restart and Cowie found Crawford, who burst forward before finding Watt for the eighth try, which McLeish again converted for 56-14.

In the dying minutes Dunfermline grabbed a consolation try when Sky Laurie set up Gavin Broomfield for the score, with McNeish ensuring that all 11 tries were converted.