Hamilton Bulls found out how difficult it will be to return to Nat 1 when they visited the borders to take on Newton Stewart in this National League 2 fixture coming up short by 22 – 20.
In bright sunshine and a strong wind, the first half was a stolid affair, with both sides cancelling each other out. By half time the score was 10 all; 2 tries to the home team and a penalty goal and converted try to Hamilton. Bulls began brightly with the wind when Owen Mcleish’s long downfield clearance stayed in field putting the borderers’ defence under real pressure. However a penalty concession gave them an easy escape. Hamilton’s scrum dominance in these early stages heaped more pressure on the Home team, but indiscipline at the breakdown coughed up frequent turnovers allowing them to gain a lineout deep in Hamilton territory on 9 minutes, which they converted with a maul involving forwards and backs scored by their scrum half at the tail of the maul.. Try unconverted. With their tails up, Newton showed some good handling to run the ball clear of danger and thwart Hamilton’s next attack. On 12 minutes they capitalised on poor Hamilton defence after a deft chip ahead was gathered and spread wide for their centre to dot down, again unconverted.
Bulls’ attempt to get back into the game was not helped by an early injury to McLauchlan but their forward dominance in set plays began to tell. Sloppy handling denied any genuine scoring opportunity however until Ross Inglis forced a lineout 5 metres from the line and Josh White using all his power forced his way over the line to allow McLeish to convert to narrow the gap to 3 points. From the kick off, Newton took advantage of Hamilton’s poor defensive shape and almost increased their lead, but stout defence kept them out. However Hamilton continued to concede soft penalties keeping them under the cosh. A yellow card for captain Owen McLeish for a no arms tackle added to Hamilton’s woes. The home team looked to capitalise immediately and only a last ditch tackle by Wilson kept them out and the same player effected a long downfield clearing kick to relieve the pressure. He then followed those heroics with a long range penalty goal on the stroke of half time to tie the match 10 – 10 after some stout Hamilton defensive work.
Bulls began the second period brightly with some secure handling from the forwards and after several phases, released Josh White to bullock over for his second of the match. Conversion unsuccessful. However from an unsuccessful penalty shot by Newton, Hamilton made a mess of their exit and coughed up a 5 metre lineout. Despite their failure to capitalise, Hamilton continued to gie up possession and quick ball from the base of a ruck gave their full back an easy run in for an unconverted try to level things. Bulls then launched wave after wave of attacks to get deep into opposition territory, however failure to look after possession meant it all came to nothing. Once again the Hamilton travelling support was stunned into silence when their full back from nowhere emerged from crowded mid field position to run clear and score under the posts and convert his own try.
Their angry response was immediate and they forced play deep into their 22 from where Scott Alexander burst through to score. The strong wind denied the conversion. Hamilton trough everything into the rest of the match but passing into the strong wind became something of a lottery and their efforts went unrewarded. Things could have been worse had the home team made better decisions after and interception had the line at their mercy. Once again Wilson was the saviour, but the game finished Newton Stewart 22 – Bulls 20. The coaching team was very disappointed. “with our forward dominance and the amount of possession they generated we should have put more points on the board. Fair play to them Their defence was excellent”.
Report by
Jim Browning