Hamilton Bulls 1st XV 3 pts Hillhead Jordanhill 1st XV 33 pts
On an afternoon of intermittent heavy rain and on a heavy but eminently playable pitch, Hills reached the mid point of the game with a 19-3 lead; and consolidated that in the second period of play to add a further 14 points to harvest five National league points. First half scorers were winger Fionn Whyte, Stand-off Rory Harte and tight head prop, Liam Tighe. In the second 40 minutes , full back Sean Black crossed the line unopposed and second rower, Dougie Price, rounded off a fine afternoon’s work for his team by adding a close range 5th try. Captain, Rory Harte, added 4 conversions to maintain his recent excellent form off the kicking tee.
And yet despite the apparently convincing winning margin, Hills were for many periods during the game facing a spirited and resilient Bulls side whose forwards carried strongly and made their visitors work hard for their victory. Indeed in the first 10minutes of play, the hosts threatened to drive Hills off the field, but were undone by Hills defensive efforts . Also despite parity in all aspects of first phase engagement, Hills played the conditions better and used Rory Harte’s kicking from hand skills to great effect. With one kick, Hills centre of gravity always moved some 50/60 metres aided by the wind ; whereas Hamilton continually used the ball in the hands when passing movements, given the conditions, were less profitable than the visitors’.
All but one of the Hills tries originated from driving play in the home twenty two with individuals taking the ball on across the try line. But Sean Black’s owed everything to his instinctive attacking skills. A maul with ball on the Hamiton side was static, and their scrum half picked up and lobbed a pass to his right hand flank. The move was read expertly by the Hills full back who accelerated from behind the rearmost foot to pluck the ball from mid-air to scamper untouched to the try line. Also notable was the attacking play in the 13 channel from Matt “Plod” Murray who clearly has honed his sprinting skills in his daytime occupation.
All in all, a fine win in a fixture which could easily have found Hills vulnerable. There is now a break in domestic hostilities for the Calcutta Cup in Edinburgh on Saturday February 24th. Hills play their final National league competitive fixture on Saturday March 2nd at Hughenden with a 15.00 KO. All supporters welcome.
