Bulls March on in National League Cup

Hamilton Bulls visited Beveridge Park to take on old rivals Kirkcaldy in the national league cup, on the back of a strong performance last week against Gordonians when the racked up 57 points. In a hard fought contest, Bulls emerged victorious with a score line of 24 – 48, although they had to work extra hard for their victory against the home team who got on the scoreboard first.

Kirkcaldy, playing to their strength in the pack got their first try in just 3 minutes, having caught the Bulls defence off guard from the kick off. However, Bulls steadied and quickly got back into the game, playing some good controlled rugby, and when Ross Jamieson found himself in space out wide, he scampered in for Hamilton’s first try, unconverted, to level the scores on 18 minutes. Discipline was key and it took another 10 minutes for Hamilton to take the lead through good link up play, sending Adam Ryan in under the posts to allow Owen McLeish, on his 200th cap, an easy conversion.

In this see-saw period of the match it was Kirkcaldy who notched equalising try with several phases of forward drives leading to a try and easy conversion. Once again, Hamilton were spurred into action and on 36 minutes, number 8 Scott Alexander barrelled over out wide to edge the Bulls in front and as half time approached, Max Crumlish forced his way over close to the posts for a converted try. Kirkcaldy responded straight from the kick off and again some careless defending allowed them to cross out wide for a half time score of 17 – 24.

The second half saw Bulls take control with two quick tries. The first from debutant winger Andrew Crawford saw Bulls crisp handling opening up space on the left wing for Crawford o dive in for an unconverted try. Just 2 minutes later it was the turn of Ross Inglis who took the ball at inside centre and ran a great line to cut open the Kirkcaldy defence, leaving an easy conversion for McLeish.

Although Kirkcaldy countered with try and conversion on 65 minutes, Bulls were not to be denied and finished with a double for winger Ben Plant on 76 and 79 minutes to take the score to 24 – 48.

“This was a good win on the road, against a strong Kirkcaldy outfit,” said coach Kenny Brown. “We had a lot of young, inexperienced lads out there today and they all fronted up well. We do have a couple of things to look at in defence, but I am delighted with the win. We face them in the league in 2 weeks, so we know now how hard that match is going to be, and the lads are really up for it”.

Match Report by Jim Browning