National League Cup Quarter-Final - Hamilton v GHK

After a disappointing first half of the season, Hamilton Bulls look to be in better fettle after the Christmas break. Ultimately they lost out to GHK in what was a barnstorming National League Cup Quarter-Final tie, but only after extra time.

Having travelled to Dumfries to take on the (then) League leaders in their first game back after the break, and resoundingly beaten them 29-17, the hope was that the Bulls would see off GHK at Laigh Bent. Unfortunately a stag weekend arranged long before the re-arranged Cup tie meant that perhaps half-a-dozen potential first team players were unavailable. Thus it was a younger, less experienced - but hugely committed Bulls side which took the field.

The opening minutes were dominated by the visitors and they went ahead with a well-worked move to put Ben Hutton over on the left wing. Jack Cuthbert struck a sweet conversion to make it 0-7 before Hamilton fired a shot in anger.

However, once the young Bulls got the ball, they played with a confidence that had been missing in the Autumn months. Every single player wanted to get their hands on the ball and run hard at the opposition.

After 11 minutes Hamilton were rewarded with a try after some delightful lead-up work. A tapped penalty was swung wide left, then recycled right to Craig Skilling. He drew the full-back and slipped the ball back inside to James Howatson who had a clear run to the line. Andy Wilson slotted the conversion to tie the scores.

GHK restored their 7 point margin shortly after the restart when Gavin McKirdy popped up on his ‘wrong’ wing to dart over, and again Cuthbert added the extras with the boot.

Andy Wilson banged over a 40 metre penalty to make it 10-14 and moments later he featured in what would have been a contender for Try-of-the-Season - if only it had been scored. Skilling burst through a gap in the GHK defence and offloaded to Adam Ryan. With the GHK defence twisting and turning to cover the break, Ryan fed back to Wilson who looked sure to cross at the corner. He cut inside the last defender but was held. Even then he found the supporting Dain Morrow, but credit to the visitors, they somehow dragged him down inches short of the line.

It was all Hamilton at this stage, but in the shadow of half-time GHK threatened on a couple of occasions. The Bulls scramble defence did them proud, before the pack did well to repel a driven line-out.

Half-time: Hamilton 10-14 GHK

Hamilton’s defence was called into action again soon after the break. This time a series of GHK pick and goes were stopped, but eventually Cuthbert slotted a penalty for 10-17.

Seeing the game slipping away galvanised the Bulls, and with Billy Simpson and Gary Adams bringing power off the bench, they launched a series of attacks. Lesser sides would have crumbled under the onslaught, but GHK defended well. Perhaps Referee Calum Worsley allowed them to slow the ball down at the break-down points, and the Laigh Bent faithful believed that there was more than a hint of offside on several occasions.

Eventually the breakthrough came. The ball was fed wide right and then back to midfield. Gary Adams seemed to be enveloped in tacklers, but he bumped and bustled his way over the line for a great try. Andy Wilson added the conversion to tie it up at 17-17.

It was largely one-way traffic until the end of ‘normal’ time with the home side pressing for a winner, and indeed the Bulls dominated much of the 20 minutes extra-time. However, Cuthbert, recognising that a try was unlikely to come, struck a 30 metre drop-goal late on to deny the Bulls.

With Head Coach Kenny Brown away on holiday, his colleague Eck Edmonstone summed up the two January games. He said ‘we’re getting there. What’s good is that we’ve gone from a side which played well for 20 minute spells into one which plays well for 80 minutes - or even 100 minutes!
The focus since the start of the season has been defence, and now that we’re getting the hang of it, it’s paying off. What it means is that we get more ball and that allows us to play a more expansive style of rugby, which is great fun for the players and exciting for the spectators.’

Report by Stuart Sutherland